


Crimson and Clover

by H20loo



Series: The Visitors [2]
Category: Kim Possible (Cartoon)
Genre: Action & Romance, F/F, Ghosts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-12
Updated: 2015-08-12
Packaged: 2018-04-14 10:26:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 46,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4561068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/H20loo/pseuds/H20loo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Past crimes, history and dead relatives come back to haunt Kim and Shego as a crime wave sweeps across Middleton and a newly revamped Team Possible is called in to investigate.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Past, Present and Future

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: This is the sequel to my first story, "The Visitors", so I would recommend reading that one first, if you haven't already. It will provide the intro to some of the characters and situations that you can find in this story. This tale is also a Kigo story (or at least it will be), so if you don't like that pairing, you should choose something else to read. Most of the characters in this story belong to Disney, but a few here and there do belong to me, so I don't have to disclaim them. :)

Chapter 1 – Present, Past and Future

"Beep, Beep, Be-Beep!"

The four-tone chime rang merrily throughout the bedroom. A pair of green eyes fluttered briefly, but then settled back down into sleep. "Beep, Beep, Be-Beep!" the chime insisted. Finally, one green eye slid open and peered at the device raising all of the ruckus. It usually disguised itself as a mild-mannered wristwatch, but at certain times, like now for instance, it changed into its secret identity as the Bastion of All Annoyances. Shego took a deep breath and sighed it back out. She thought momentarily about destroying the damn thing, but, thanks to the team's resident nerd, Kim's amulet and a handy mass spectrometer, it was indestructible. So, she answered it, knowing exactly who it had to be at this time of day. "Morning, Princess," she mumbled

"Morning, Shego!" Kim chirped. "Are you ready to go?"

"Are you nuts?" Shego retorted sleepily. "Do you have any idea of what time it is?"

"Sure I do," Kim replied cheerfully, not the least bit fazed by the grumpy coming from Shego's end. "It is 7AM, which is a perfectly reasonable time for normal, no-longer-criminal people to be up. So what's the complaint?"

"Well, since you brought it up, to start, I am not normal," Shego rejoined. "And second, it is a Saturday. Even 'normal' people don't get up at 7AM on a Saturday. And third, my no-longer-criminal self went to bed at 3AM because it is not yet aware that it is no longer criminal."

"Fine. I can wait a little longer," Kim pouted.

"Well, what if I no longer feel up to it?" Shego countered.

"You promised today, Shego, and we are gonna go today," Kim stated. "And I will come over there and drag you out of bed if I have to."

"You wouldn't dare," Shego scoffed.

"Oh yes, I would," Kim replied.

"I sleep in the nude," Shego offered untruthfully, just to throw Kim off her game.

Kim's face on the viewscreen colored slightly, but she was otherwise unflustered. "Then I would have easily accessible handles, now wouldn't I?" she queried.

Shego snickered, pleased at how much she had corrupted Kim in the short time they had been friends. "All right, Pumpkin, you win. We'll meet on the tarmac at noon, okay?"

"Spanking! See you then, Shego," Kim answered.

"Bye, Princess," Shego replied ruefully and cut off the connection. She settled back down and tried to go back to sleep, but it just wasn't happening. She sighed again and flipped over, settling herself more comfortably on the pillows.

Her mind flitted over a million different things: where she was, what the hell she was doing there and how the hell she got there were tops on the list. It had been an interesting journey; that was for damn sure. It had been a little over a month since she had joined up with Team Possible and she had gone from being a somewhat lazy, under-motivated villainess working for a lunatic to a somewhat lazy, under-motivated "hero" working for an upstanding member of the community. She was taking a few courses here and there at the local community college, the Princess (and her parents) having pitched a fit at both her lack of any collegial education and unused free time. She smiled as she thought of Kim's parents. Though she would never admit it, she was actually begrudgingly fond of the Drs. Possible and the way they had made her a de facto part of the family just because she was now a friend of Kim's. Well, not just because of that. It hadn't exactly hurt her case when Ron had told them how she had saved Kim's life.

Besides school, she had a few other activities, one of which was teaching Kimmie how to fly their newly acquired jet. Shego had flatly refused to be dependent on other people for rides to their missions and one of her first acts as a member of the team was arranging for their own transportation. It took some doing to convince Kimmie that they could afford it though. Shego always smirked when she thought of that conversation.

"We can't afford a jet, Shego," Kim had protested. "We don't charge anything for our services and we would have no money for upkeep."

Shego had looked at her, a quizzical smirk on her face. "You have no idea how much money Nana Sheila and Nana Mim left us, do you?" she asked.

"Not really, no," Kim admitted. "Why? How much did they?"

"Individual inheritance or combined resources?" Shego clarified.

"Combined, I guess, since we are both a part of the team," Kim answered.

Shego thought about it. "A little more than God, but not quite as much as Oprah," she replied with a smirk.

Kim rolled her eyes. "What does that mean in terms of dollars?" she asked.

Shego thought some more. "Well, if Nana Mim left you approximately what Nana Sheila left me, I would say close to, or something like, eight hundred and seventy millions dollars. Since you haven't actually seen any of yours, I suppose it could be closer to a billion by now though," she mused.

"You're joking," Kim said flatly.

"Nope," Shego said. "Remember that building in Chicago where Bob was?" Kim nodded. ""We own that," Shego told her.

"We own an entire office building?" Kim asked, shocked.

"And much more, Princess," Shego answered, still smirking. "We can afford a damn plane."

"Yeah, it looks like we can," Kim mused. "Can we get it green and yellow?" she asked jokingly. Then her eyes grew bright. "Will you teach me to fly it?" she asked excitedly.

"Damn straight you are learning how to fly it. I am not going to be the only pilot on this team like I was for Team Go," Shego stated gruffly, using her irritation with her brothers to hide how utterly adorable she thought Kim was and how much Kim's enthusiasm was charming her.

"Awesome! When can we start?" Kim asked, her body fairly vibrating with anticipation.

"We need to get the plane first," Shego said wryly. Within a few weeks they had gotten their plane, and Kim had been bugging Shego incessantly about lessons ever since. They had agreed on Saturday, but they apparently had forgotten to mention a time, resulting in the crack-of-dawn phone call that had disrupted Shego's sleep.

Shego sighed yet again and rolled over on her side, staring at the opposite wall grumpily. She wasn't pissed at Kim for calling; she was pissed at herself for being so damn happy that Kim had called. She knew this was going to happen; hell, she had told Nana Mim that it was going to happen if she and Kim became friends. But she didn't want it to happen for so many reasons that she was still pissed at herself that it had.

She glanced at the clock, mumbling to herself when it proudly proclaimed "7:15 AM." She peeled back the covers to make her feet hit the floor, but quickly replaced them when a bone-chilling cold invaded the bedroom. She thought briefly about making a mad dash to the thermostat, but that was abandoned when she felt a slight energy shift reverberate around her. Putting two and two together, she relaxed and then smirked. "You can show yourselves, guys," she said to the empty air. "I know that you are in here."

"You would have a marvelous career as a medium with that talent," a familiar voice informed her. "You should really capitalize on it."

"Yeah, I'll think about it, Nana Sheila," Shego answered as her great-great aunt materialized in front of her. "Where's Nana Mim?" she asked when after a few more moments no other ghost was forthcoming.

"She decided to remain behind," Sheila answered. "We are not supposed to be passing back and forth between the planes like we are, and since we are rarely apart, we thought it might fool the powers that be if she was easily visible at all times."

"Why do they care if you leave? It is not like you are scaring anybody," Shego asked.

Sheila shrugged. "I really do not know. I guess it just isn't done." Shego snorted at the stupidity. Sheila smiled at her response and turned her focus to why she came, which was, of course, to meddle. "So, my dearest Junior, why are we up at this hour and mumbling to ourselves?"

"I got woken up by a phone call from an obnoxious annoyance that keeps bugging me for flight lessons," Shego responded, her voice irritated.

Sheila laughed heartily. "Completely fallen for her already, haven't you?" she asked with a knowing smirk. Shego was completely nonplussed and her eyebrows rose comically as her mouth dropped open. The sight of her usually dour great-grand niece so unnerved made Sheila laugh all the harder.

"But… how… why; where in the world did you come up with that!?" Shego sputtered a few moments later when she was able to think clearly and make her mouth actually speak.

"You were not exactly covert with your feelings toward Mim-jay on our last adventure, Junior," Sheila reminded her. "Besides that, I have not only known you from birth, but you and I are alike enough that I can tell when you are not being completely honest. That being said, it was obvious to me that your last statement was a cover-up for your true delight in giving Mim-jay lessons and I surmised the cause of this delight. It wasn't that large of a leap, especially since I have been in your place before."

Shego glowered, but she could not deny it and she could not lie to her Nana. "All right fine," she spat. "So what?" Sheila chuckled. Shego sulked for a few moments more, then glanced up. "So, just out of curiosity, how did you make Mim fall for you?"

Sheila's smirk grew into a full smile at the question; she had been anticipating it for quite some time. "Well, you see, Junior, that was the problem. I couldn't make Mim do a damn thing. Being who I was, I was very accustomed to getting what I wanted, either by buying it or stealing it. Mim could not be bought or stolen and that made her unbelievably alluring."

"And you had to rise to the challenge, right? You had to get what you couldn't," Shego guessed, knowing that would be her way of going about things.

"Actually, no, I didn't," Sheila admitted with an ironic smile. "I almost let Mim slip away because I for once in my life I wanted to do something the proper way. It took her getting engaged for me realize what a fool I was being."

"Whoa. Wait a second. Nana Mim was engaged?" Shego said skeptically. "I knew you were engaged and you broke it off, but Nana Mim was engaged too?" Sheila nodded. "Wow. I had no idea you two had left such a trail of broken hearts in your wake." Shego looked thoughtful for a few moments, then smirked. "You were too chicken to tell her until she got engaged?" she teased.

"Says the woman who has not only remained silent to her paramour but barely refuses to admit her feelings," Sheila countered.

"Yeah, but I have only been friends with Kimmie like a month and Stoppable is only her boyfriend. You knew Nana Mim for what, like over a year, and you let her Stoppable propose," Shego pointed out, still smirking.

Sheila sighed. "Very well; point conceded, Junior," she allowed.

"Why did her engagement finally get you?" Shego asked, curious.

"She would be torn away from me forever and I was devastated, physically and mentally," Sheila answered bluntly. "I more than once contemplated suicide. But, it was for only about a week that I really and truly believed that she was going to marry him. Then we nearly ravished one another in my parents' parlor and I knew that I could win her if only I would pursue her."

"Well, at least you didn't suffer long," Shego answered, before the antiquated language filtered through and she realized what Sheila truly meant. Her brows knitted and her eyebrow quirked. "Please tell me that you didn't just say what I think you said," she implored plaintively.

"Why? Did you think Mim and I were celibate all those years?" Sheila asked facetiously.

"No, doy," Shego replied, completely embarrassed by the topic of conversation. "But I don't need to hear about specifics, thanks."

"I was nowhere near specific," Sheila stated. "If you require specifics, I would look in Mim's journal."

Shego chuckled. "Yeah, no thanks. Kimmie did and it sounded like it nearly blew the top of her head off." She looked thoughtfully at Sheila, then back down at the sheets.

"Spit it out, Junior," Sheila ordered.

"Well, okay, so I get that you couldn't make Nana Mim love you," Shego reiterated. "But how did you did you know she loved you? How did you tell her that you loved her?" Sheila quirked an eyebrow. "Without going into specifics," Shego added hastily.

"I guess I should start from roughly the beginning," Sheila answered. "It will mean a lot less backtracking. You, of course, know how we met and how Mim forced me into tracking down Lipsky?" Shego nodded. "Well, soon after we parted ways that fall, we realized we liked working together. We met in January of '03 to discuss a partnership and as soon as it was confirmed that I should be the photographer, I went out and bought the Middleton Gazette."

"You bought an entire newspaper because you became a photographer for one of its reporters?" Shego asked incredulously.

Sheila shrugged. "Mother and Father were pleased that I was finally doing something with my life and happily gave me the money. And I bought it because I was damned that anyone should be my boss. I had never had a boss and I was not about to start. And truthfully, I also bought it so Mim could have the freedom to pursue what she wanted to do, not what some editor told her to. She was an incredible reporter and I thought she deserved that much"

"So what did Nana Mim want to do?" Shego asked.

"She wanted to go to Africa," Sheila replied. "Things were not as they were now and it took the better part of a year to get there, do what Mim wanted to do and then make it back to the United States. And, it was in that year that what I felt for Mim moved beyond infatuation and attraction into utter love and devotion," she admitted, a small, self-effacing smile on her face. "You were too young to properly know either of us, Junior, but I wish you could have seen the side of Mim that was present on that trip," Sheila said wistfully. "Mim loathed oppression and what she saw in Africa made her blood boil. She was outraged by the effects that colonialism was having on the continent and ever the crusader, she dragged us in to more conflicts than I can even recall. She wrote about it all and I photographed it all, and when the time came for us to return, Mim had enough information to shame the grandest of nations. She did, too, after she published her series of articles in the Gazette."

Shego shook her head. "Wow, yeah, a heroic Possible. Never could have seen that one coming," she said sarcastically.

"Yes, well anyway, when we were on our way back to the States, the decree was handed down from our respective sets of parents that our holidays had been planned for us," Sheila continued. "They had apparently been in close contact for most of our absence and both sets were dying to see the both of us. So, it had been decided that when we disembarked in New York in middle December, we were to proceed directly to Middleton. Mim's parents were hosting a Christmas fete on the 20th, after which I was to come home to Chicago to spend the holiday with my family. The day after Christmas, Mim was to get on a train to Chicago in order to make it in time for the annual Goshen New Year's Eve costume extravaganza, where, of course, she would be able to spend time with my family as I had done with hers. The plan went very smoothly until Jonathan decided to propose at the Possibles' party. That, I must confess, completely soured my Christmas mood," Sheila related, her disgust with the event still evident in her tone and manner.

"Um, yeah, I can imagine. What the hell happened?" Shego prompted.

"It would not have been so bad if I had not been in the middle of confessing my own feelings," Sheila explained. "I had grown weary of the festivities and had gone to be by myself. Mim looked beautiful that night, and I was off brooding to myself about my sad existence in which she was only a friend. She came to find me, and inexplicably, I found myself confessing that I was going to break off my engagement when I returned to Chicago. She asked me why and I answered truthfully that I had fallen in love with someone else. Before I could reveal her identity, though, Jon called from the front room and within seconds, or so it seemed, they were engaged. My heart was unceremoniously ripped from my chest as I smiled and congratulated them, and the next morning I left without saying goodbye. I probably would not have spoken to Mim ever again, but the plan was in place and, thinking I had just neglected to say goodbye due to haste, she came to Chicago. My mother, who had long ago surmised my feelings for Mim and knew something had gone wrong, refused to let me isolate myself and forced me to interact with her because, and I quote, 'that young lady is the best thing that ever happened to you and if you do not use that stubborn will of yours to fight for her, you are hereby disinherited.' The night of the costume ball came, Mim looked gorgeous and I grew more and more depressed. I drank too much and danced with far too many fellows to distract myself. But as I was dancing with the fiancé I had jilted less than two days before, I realized that Mim had left the room."

"Wait. Your ex-fiancé came to the party? After you broke up with him?" Shego said skeptically.

"Of course," Sheila pshawed. "The Goshen costume ball was the highlight of the winter societal season. No one of distinction would miss it. Besides," she continued with a smirk, "We had been best friends for practically our whole lives, and I didn't exactly break his heart. He had as much interest in women as I had in men and the marriage was a good cover for the both of us. He understood why I could not go through with the charade and even congratulated me on my choice as we were dancing. That, of course, made me look for Mim, but she had disappeared."

"Lemme guess. She had gone into the parlor," Shego interjected.

"She had," Sheila confirmed. "Do you wish me to continue?"

Curiosity warred with embarrassment, but curiosity won out. "Okay, but no specifics," Shego conceded.

"No specifics," Sheila agreed. "Anyway, I followed her into the parlor, and it was plain to see that she was upset. I inquired as to why and she demurred. I pressed the issue and she finally admitted that she had seen far too little of me that night and that she was jealous of my dance partners. Knowing an opportunity when one hit me in the face, I asked her to dance. She agreed and together we waltzed to the refrain we could just barely hear from the ballroom. I have never been so simultaneously blissful and utterly depressed in all my life. The music ended and, with her arms still around me, she asked me why I was upset. I prevaricated and told her that it saddened me that our partnership was coming to an end. We went back and forth about how her engagement did not have to mean the end, and ultimately she brought up my confession to her at her parents' party. 'But you said that you were in love,' she said. "Surely that will substitute for our adventures.' I started to chuckle, the irony and the alcohol working against my better judgment, and that seemed to anger her. 'What is so humorous?' she asked. I looked at her, and unable to stop myself, answered her. 'I am in love with you, you oblivious little fool.'"

"Wow, I am sure that went over in a big way," Shego commented. "You drop the L-bomb right on top of her head and call her stupid all in one sentence. Quite the way you have with the ladies, Nana Sheila. I don't see how she could have resisted you."

"I am not telling this story so you can sass me, Junior," Sheila retorted snippily and then she sighed. "But you are absolutely correct. It was probably the worst possible combination of things to say. Luckily for me, though, Mim was so stunned by my first admission that she did not notice, at least at that time, my egregious lack of manners. Instead she just looked at me, completely flummoxed. Her brow wrinkled, she stared at me for a while longer, and then, just as I was about to turn and leave, comprehension dawned. She looked incredibly sad and I knew that I had no chance with her. So, I gently touched her cheek, apologized and figuring I had completely ruined the relationship and therefore had nothing to lose, I kissed her."

"What the hell did she do?" Shego asked, getting into the story in spite of herself.

"I figured she would belt me," Sheila admitted, "but instead she kissed me back. Things escalated exceedingly quickly, and before either of us realized it, things had almost gone too far." Shego looked pained and quickly covered her ears. "That was not specific, Junior, and the word of importance in that sentence was 'almost,'" Sheila said, exasperated. "Regardless, we both came to our senses at about the same time. I asked Mim straight out how she felt about me and she could not answer. I asked her how she felt about Jon and she could not answer that question either. I knew then that I did have a chance, and so when spring came, I moved to Middleton, started building the Mansion and exploited my chance."

"And you won the girl," Shego finished.

"Yes, but it did take me almost another year," Sheila replied with a smirk. "Mim was exceptionally hard to woo."

"Fabulous," Shego muttered.

"Mim-jay might be vastly different," Sheila pointed out. Shego glared at her. "If, of course, you intend to woo her, which, as recalcitrant as you are to showing emotion, I would put the chances of at 'not very likely'," Sheila amended. Shego snorted in irritation. "Speaking of Mim-jay, when you two supposed to meet?" Sheila asked slyly.

Shego glanced at the clock and cursed. "Shit! We are supposed to meet in like 10 minutes."

"Then I would suggest you hurry, dear," Sheila advised smugly.

Shego glared at her. "Let Nana Mim come next time," she grumbled.

Sheila chuckled. "Have fun, dear, and tell Mim-jay I say 'hi'," she said pleasantly. She slowly faded from view, all the while amusedly watching Shego scramble for her clothes, glare at her once more and then take off at a dead run down the stairs. Oh, but she would have so much to tell Mim when she got back.


	2. The Flight Lesson

Chapter 2 – The Flight Lesson

"Where is she?" Kim grumbled as she paced the tarmac. "First she makes me wait another five hours and then she's late," she groused, twiddling the amulet around her neck as she thought of Shego. The fiddling as she thought of Shego had become a habit of late, but Kim didn't even realize she was doing it.

"Keep your shorts on, Princess; I'm here," Shego called out as she strode up to where Kim was standing. "I got sidetracked. Nana Sheila says 'hi' by the way."

Kim broke out into a smile at the mention of one of her favorite dead relatives. "Aunt Sheila appeared this morning? How is she? How is Aunt Mim?"

"Dead, like they have been for a while," Shego replied wryly. Kim sighed and thought about smacking her, but ultimately decided against it. It would only lead to a full-on battle and she really wanted to get in the air. "And it was only Nana Sheila; Nana Mim stayed behind," Shego added.

"Do we have a new mission?" Kim asked, thinking there might have been a reason for the visit.

"Nope," Shego answered. "She just dropped by to tease me and meddle in my life."

"Wow, that teasing part sounds familiar," Kim said dryly, looking at Shego. "Nah, it couldn't be genetic," she concluded, shaking her head.

Shego rolled her eyes. "Yes, I get it. Nana Sheila and I are a lot alike," she said exasperatedly. "Well, from what I heard this morning, so are you and Nana Mim, so I wouldn't get too head up about it, Pumpkin."

"What did you hear?" Kim asked, her curiosity piqued.

Shego smiled annoyingly and chuckled. "Just gonna have to ask Nana Sheila yourself, Princess," she said, and this time Kim did smack her.

Knowing there would be retaliation, Kim flipped away from Shego to stand at the hangar door. Shego lit up and threw a blast Kim's way, but Kim just stood there with a self-satisfied look on her face, not even trying to dodge. As the blast grew near, the amulet around her neck started to glow, and as the beam should have been impacting, it merely dissipated into a harmless nothing. Kim's smile grew wider. Shego tried again, this time sending multiple blasts. Kim dodged most of them, but the last she dealt with by holding out her right hand. The finely etched ring she wore started to glow exactly like the amulet had, and again, the plasma disappeared. "Still okay with letting me keep them both?" she teased. Shego grumbled something unintelligible and Kim laughed. She turned to the hanger door, still chuckling, but prepared to move quickly if she could feel Shego come up behind her. "Identify: Possible, Kim," she ordered.

A quick voice recognition protocol and body scan later, the security system complied. "Identified: Possible, Pink. Please state your command."

Kim glared at Shego, who had recovered her good humor now that her prank had been successful. "Open door," Kim said flatly, her annoyance with that nickname clipping her tone. The door slid open obediently, giving the both of them access to the Team Possible hangar.

The hanger was huge and mostly unused. At the moment it housed only their new plane and the hovercraft that Shego had "forgotten" to return to Drakken. Shego had plans, however, and at the very least by Christmas, they would have another jet, this one a more military style number that had once been painted in various shades of green, blue, purple and red. Shego had liberated it from her brothers, none of whom could fly it or in any way use it, and so while most people would have considered it stealing, she considered it reallocation of resources. The paint job was hideous, however, and so it was being repainted to match the other members of the Team Possible air force squad. Kim had no idea this was all going on; it was going to be her Christmas present and Shego was doing a good job of not telling her a damn thing.

Kim walked around the plane, inspecting it. Shego rolled her eyes at the anality, and went to the hatch. "Identify: Shego," she said.

"Identified: Goshen, Junior. Please state your command," the computer replied. Shego sighed. Maybe, just maybe, she had taught Kim too well in the past month. "Open hatch," she ordered grumpily as she heard maniacal giggling coming from the other side of the plane. She stomped aboard, irritated.

She was soon joined by a still-giggling Kim. "Wade was my tech guy long before you joined," Kim reminded her, "and I don't call him 'Nerdlinger'."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Shego replied, pushing a button in the cockpit that opened the hangar door. "Just close the hatch." Kim grinned and did as she was told, although she knew that Shego could have just pushed a button on the control panel to close it automatically. Their new plane had all kinds of nifty little features like that because, at least on the surface, it was designed to be a commuter plane. It had a very comfortable cabin, communication abilities up the wazoo and controls that could be manned by a single pilot, perfect for the wealthy businessperson on the go. However, being as it belonged to Team Possible, it also had a lot of non-standard equipment as well, such as 360o radar, exceptionally powerful turbo engines and straps attached to the fuselage so that anyone that found herself on the outside of the plane while flying would have something to hold on to.

Kim joined Shego in the cockpit and sat down in the co-pilot's chair. She waited patiently for Shego to take the plane outside, but Shego did nothing. "Um, Shego, aren't we going for a lesson?" Kim asked.

"You wanted the lesson, so you have to take us out," Shego answered. Kim looked slightly terrified yet excited at the prospect of driving the multimillion-dollar machine. "Look, Princess, the door out of here is about a football field wide. No one, with maybe the exception of Stoppable, could screw up badly enough for us to crash into the wall," Shego explained. "Besides, you are the daughter of a damn astrophysicist; it should come naturally. Grab the controls, and use the pedals like you would for a car. Ease us out of here and when you do something wrong, I'll yell at you," Shego concluded, her smirk firmly in place. Kim glared at her. "You said you wanted to learn how to fly, Pink."

"If this is the way you treated them, I am beginning to understand why your brothers never learned to fly," Kim grumbled. "And don't call me 'Pink'."

Shego smirked, but said nothing as Kim cautiously edged them out of the hangar. In spite of what she said, Shego didn't actually yell at Kim when she made a mistake. She teased her about it, deftly corrected her, and made her try again. Soon, after a few trips up and down the runway, Kim was getting the hang of it. That accomplished, Shego started to go over the fundamentals of take-off, showing Kim how to manipulate her slats and flaps to give the jet more lift. Kim practiced for a while and Shego commented on her progress before taking the controls herself and getting them airborne.

Once up in the air, Shego showed Kim the basics like how to use the horizontal rudders to go up and down and the vertical rudder to go left and right before surrendering the controls and letting her practice. Kim did very well, much to Shego's non-surprise. She was the daughter of an astrophysicist, after all, as well as being a perfectionist that had to do everything nearly perfectly the first time. She also had a talent for flying that her idiot brothers had never hoped to have, Shego mused.

After about an hour or so of practicing, Shego decided that it was time to go back to the hangar. "Time to go home, Kimmie," she said. "That is enough practice for one day and I would like to do something useful with the rest of my Saturday."

"But you are training me and I save the world. This is the most useful thing you could be doing," Kim said immodestly. Shego quirked an eyebrow at the hubris, thinking Kim was joking, but Kim looked completely serious. Shego continued to look at Kim speculatively, and Kim finally cracked a smile. Shego smiled back wryly, both in appreciation at the joke and at the confirmation that she was not working for another megalomaniac. "Fine, we can go in, but only if you promise to give me more lessons tomorrow," Kim offered.

"All right, but we meet at 2PM and you don't call me at seven tomorrow morning," Shego countered.

"Deal," Kim agreed, and gently turned them around towards the hangar. As soon as she had completed the action, though, an alarm started sounding from the control panel. The noise startled Kim, and thinking she had done something wrong even though she knew she hadn't, she looked questioningly at Shego.

"It's not you, Princess," Shego confirmed, frowning. "We are picking something up on radar." She frowned at the screen for several more seconds and the frown turned quickly into a scowl. She reached for her headset and put it on, activating it. She unleashed a spate of technical jargon in the microphone, waited for a response, and when it came, she scowled even deeper.

"What is it?" Kim asked, slightly concerned.

"The tower confirmed that there are supposed to be no other flights in the vicinity," Shego answered. "I wanted to make sure that we would be relatively alone up here so you could practice, so I confirmed with the tower before we headed out. Those guys should not be here. Them suddenly showing up is giving me the heebie-jeebies and I think we should get back to the hangar as quickly as possible."

"Okay," Kim agreed, a little freaked out herself at how the situation was unsettling Shego. She increased the throttle and they surged forward. Shego watched the radar as they did so and growled when the blips did the same, not only matching their speed but increasing it so that the blips were coming ever closer.

"I knew we should have gotten weapons on this thing," she growled.

"Shego, look at this!" Kim commanded, snapping Shego's attention back to the front.

Two unmarked black jets were speeding toward them, and it was clear that they were on an intercept course. Shego took the controls. "My turn, Pumpkin," she declared, sending the plane on a series of complicated maneuvers. The black planes followed suit, and in spite of Shego's skill, the planes soon flanked them on both sides, their wings almost touching the wings of the Team Possible jet.

"Land that plane immediately," an imperious voice boomed out from one of the black planes.

"Bite me, asshole," was Shego's immediate response.

"We are prepared to make you land if you do not comply," the voice further informed them, and to prove his point, used his wing to nudge their wing, causing the plane to dip. Shego's temper snapped.

"Enough of this bullshit," she spat, unbuckling herself. "Take the controls back, Princess," she ordered. Kim did so hesitantly, but without comment. "Keep us flying straight and steady. I'll be back in a few."

"You can't be going out there, Shego," Kim protested. She got no answer. "Shego? Shego!" she yelled when she felt the cabin depressurize and then repressurize.

"That's why we put in the straps, Pumpkin!" Shego called out cheerfully, the background noise from her being on the outside of the plane coming through as a dull roar on the COM link.

"But it is not fair that I have to fly this thing when you get all the fun!" Kim pouted. "Besides, I barely know how to fly it at all!"

"Best way to learn is to jump in with both feet, Princess," Shego replied, and Kim could almost see the smirk on her face. "All right, dickheads. Let's play," she murmured, resettling her grip on the strap as she planned her move. She let go and jumped to the neighboring plane, lighting up and taking a swipe at the wing as she did so. The pilot, never expecting anyone to be jumping from plane to plane without a parachute, was caught completely flatfooted and did nothing to prevent her attack. Her plasma-aided claws sliced cleanly through the metal as Shego landed with a thud on the main part of the fuselage. A significant portion of the wing detached itself and plummeted downwards and the rest started to smoke while the plane started to fly erratically. Shego knew it was time to bail and made a crawling leap for the safety of Kimmie and their plane. She had it timed right, but the crippled plane she was on moved unexpectedly and she missed the strap. Within seconds, she was free-falling with nothing beneath her but air and lethally hard ground. "Aw, shit," she breathed into the COM.

Kim heard the curse and knew something had gone wrong. She flipped on the outside surveillance cameras and after finding no sign of Shego, turned them downward. The bright green of Shego's clothing was instantly visible, and without thinking about what she was doing, Kim sent the plane into a nose dive, leveled off and turned in a sweeping arc to position the plane about 100 yards below and a yard or two to the right of Shego's position. Shego, in spite of her predicament, quirked an eyebrow when she saw the maneuvers. "Damn, girl can do anything," she thought, as she positioned her fall to make a grab for one of the straps. She caught it this time and when she was sure of her grip, climbed back up to the top of the plane.

The other black jet was still several hundred yards above them; it had not yet had time to react to Kim's sudden movement. Shego grinned evilly and took careful aim, sending a barrage of plasma bursts straight up. The black jet was hit in several places and it started to spark and smoke. It attempted to reestablish its position, but the damage was too severe and it was forced to retreat.

Kim saw the other plane depart from her place in the cockpit and smiled. The smile was short-lived, however, when the radar signaled another warning. "Crap," she muttered. "Shego!" she yelled into the microphone. "We got three more!"

"What the fuck. Honestly," Shego grumbled, preparing to take more of them on.

"They are coming in fast," Kim told her. A smile formed on Kim's face as she gripped the controls a little more tightly. "Hold on," she warned Shego

"Hold on? Pumpkin, what in the hell are you doing?" Shego demanded. Kim didn't answer, but she didn't have to as the plane suddenly went spiraling toward the ground. The plane subsequently went up, down, in loops, corkscrews and all other kinds of motion and Shego, going strap to strap and holding on for dear life, made her way to the cabin door. "I had better damn well get in before Kimmie finds the button for the turbo charger," she told herself wryly. Her words were prophetic, for the instant she had gotten in the door and closed it, she was thrown back to the rear of the cabin by a powerful burst of speed. "She found it," Shego sighed, picking herself off the ground and making her way to the cockpit.

"What the heck were you doing out there?" Kim berated her the moment she came in. "Trying to get yourself killed?"

Shego shrugged. "Not especially, Princess," she said nonchalantly. "Besides, I knew you had my back. Nice flying by the way."

Kim blushed. "Thanks," she said simply, too embarrassed at the attention to say much else.

"You're welcome," Shego replied sincerely. "But we still have three planes on our tail, so I am taking over for the time being. I am going to land so the rat bastards will at least have to fight the both of us and do it face to face."

"Works for me," Kim agreed and without easing up on the throttle, Shego made for their hangar. The landing was not the smoothest, but they were coming in very fast and they both expected the whump that accompanied touchdown. Shego taxied as quickly as was safe across the tarmac and after opening the hangar door, scooted their plane inside of it. They locked everything down, looked at one another to make sure that they were both ready and then exited the side door.

The pilots of the planes they were expecting. The whole of the Middleton police department pointing guns at them they were not. "Stop right there and put your hands up!" the officer nearest them commanded. Completely bewildered, Kim and Shego both obeyed without question, wondering where the ambush had come from and why.

"Wait a second, Lieutenant," one of the other officers called out. "That's Kim Possible. She's apprehended Shego for us."

The lieutenant was instantly apologetic. "Please accept our apologies, Ms. Possible," she said. "We had no idea you had already been called in."

"I haven't been called in for anything," Kim said honestly. "Shego is a member of my team now and she was giving me flight lessons."

"Shego is a member of your team?" the lieutenant echoed incredulously.

"Looks like someone missed the memo," Shego murmured to Kim, and Kim resisted the urge to smile. The police did not seem like they were in a joking mood.

"Yes," Kim answered, her face dead serious.

"I would have thought that you would be more careful about who you admit to your team, Ms. Possible," the lieutenant said condescendingly. "A wanted criminal does not fit in with your image."

Kim took instant offense. "She is no longer wanted for anything," she said flatly.

"Except for the two heists that we have her fingerprints all over," the police officer countered.

"What heists?" Shego demanded, ready to kill her moronic brothers if they called the cops on her for taking a plane that they did not need.

"As if you didn't know," the officer scoffed.

"No, I don't actually. So why don't you enlighten me?" Shego offered, this close to really losing her temper.

"The Middleton Botanical Gardens were robbed of a particularly valuable and rare plant on Monday around ten, and the Space Center was robbed of a propulsion device this morning between seven and ten," the lieutenant read off of her pad. "We have evidence connecting you to both of them."

"Well, I hate to spoil your little arresting party, sweetie, but I have alibis for both of those times," Shego replied.

"Bull," the officer retorted.

"Mondays at ten I am in Freshman Honors English at Middleton Community," Shego replied matter-of-factly. "That Monday, we were discussing Lysistrata and whether sex could trump violence in human nature. If you don't believe me, call Dr. Brueck at MCC; she will vouch that I was there."

"And what about this morning?" the lieutenant challenged.

Kim answered for her. "She was home at seven. I called her and woke her up."

"I said that the robbery happened between seven and ten," the officer persisted. "What about after you hung up?"

Shego grimaced. She did have an alibi for that time, but she had no idea how she was going to tell Lieutenant-Stick-Up-Her-Ass that she was talking to her great-great aunt that had been dead for 15 years. "Someone dropped by my house and I was talking to her until I had to come here and meet Kimmie," she said, truthfully but vaguely.

"And who dropped by? Would this mystery person back up your story?" the lieutenant asked.

"She would," Shego replied. "But Nana Sheila is kind of dead, so she only appears every now and again."

"Now I have heard everything; a ghost is your alibi," the officer snorted.

"Well, I do live at the Middleton Mansion and people have said for years that it is haunted," Shego pointed out. "And it is not like you need an alibi for this morning anyway."

"Why? Am I just supposed to take your word for it?" the officer jeered.

"No, you could try doing some actual police work instead of making shit up," Shego replied angrily. "Your 'evidence' is crap and you know it. You said that the two robberies were committed by the same person. Well, I have a rock solid alibi for the first robbery, so I don't need one for the second. And even if you now change your tune and say they were committed by different people, based on the fingerprinting evidence you say you have, it couldn't be me. In the first place, I always wear gloves on a job. I pretty much wear them all the time. Secondly, even if I was smoking crack that day and did not wear them, you still couldn't have any fingerprint evidence because I don't leave any fingerprints. I have them, but I don't leave them. So even if you found prints at the scene, you couldn't match them to me because I have no prints on file."

"Everyone can be printed," the lieutenant said evenly.

Shego was through with talk. Moving too quickly for anyone to stop her, she snatched the pen the lieutenant was holding to take notes and broke it, smearing her currently bare thumb thoroughly with the black ink. She then pressed that thumb right in the middle of the officer's forehead, and sure enough, there was no print. There was just a thumb-shaped oval with no design of any kind. "Believe me now?" Shego asked sarcastically. "Now, since you have jack for evidence and nothing to hold me on, please get the hell out of here before I am forced to call my lawyer and sue your ass for harassment."

The officer glared at her, but knew her bluff had been called and she had lost. "The next time something is stolen in Middleton, I am coming straight for you," she warned, scrubbing the ink off her forehead.

"Try it," Shego replied with a smirk. The lieutenant glared some more, but then ordered her men to pull back. Within a minute or two, Kim and Shego were left standing alone.

Shego stood there a tad awkwardly, still pissed off about the false accusation and worried that Kim might think it had some validity. Kim alleviated those fears by not even commenting on the charges but instead grabbing her hand and looking at her ink-stained thumb in fascination. "You do have a print," she said, examining the digit closely. "How come you don't leave one?"

"It has to do with my powers," Shego said. "My skin isn't exactly normal anymore."

Kim smiled and shook her head. "No wonder you made an awesome thief," she commented. "So, do you think some one is trying to frame you or that the police just came here first?" she asked.

Shego thought about it, but she was distracted by Kim's nonchalant but obvious faith that the police were off their collective rocker, and even after she was able to clear her mind, she was still undecided. "I don't know, Princess," she admitted. "I think the police had more than they were telling, and those jets that harassed us weren't cops. Middleton cops don't have jets. I have a feeling that this is way more involved than a couple of random thefts."

Kim smiled. "Spanking. Sounds like we may have a mission after all," she said happily.

"So it seems," Shego sighed, unhappy. Missions meant work, even if they were to clear her own problems. And, missions meant lots of time with Kimmie, which, at the moment, Shego was really on the fence about.

"Quit being pissy about the work and come on, Shego," Kim ordered good-naturedly. "I want food. We can call Ron and talk about this over some nacos."

"I really hate that place; you know that right?" Shego protested as Kim dragged her away toward Bueno Nacho.


	3. Curiosity

Chapter 3 – Curiosity

Middleton High School Gym – Monday Afternoon

Techno music blared through the school gymnasium as the Middleton varsity cheerleading squad went seamlessly through their complicated dance routine. Every girl knew her part and executed it to perfection, leading to the moment where Kim and Ron provided the finale for the routine by Kim making a graceful tumble and leap on to the top of the cheerleader pyramid with an assist from the slobber-spewing Middleton Mad Dog. Being as this was practice, there was only one person there to congratulate them on their fine effort, but Monique, there to study with Kim afterwards, made up for the lack of people with her boundless enthusiasm. "Awesome job, people. I would root for Middleton," she assured everyone when the human pyramid had disassembled itself and everyone was walking to the bleachers. Everyone, Bonnie excepted, smiled at the honest praise.

"I think we need a break," Kim decided, looking over a crowd of tired faces. "How about we take five minutes and then practice our cheers?" There were grateful murmurs of agreement before everyone scattered to get water and collapse for a rest. Kim dug into her bag to grab her water bottle and nearly dropped it when her Kimmunicator suddenly went off.

Kim smiled, happy that Shego was calling. "What's up, Shego?" she asked, knowing that it was Shego because of the distinctive double four-tone chime her Kimmunicator gave when Shego's watch was calling.

Shego's face smirked back at her from the screen. "When are you going to be done there, Princess?" she asked. "I found something out about the planes and I wanted to go over it with you."

"Practice lasts for another half hour and I am supposed to study with Monique after that," Kim answered. "I don't think I will be free for a while."

"That's cool," Shego replied. "If you have got some time later tonight, swing by the Mansion. If not, I will catch you tomorrow. The info isn't going anywhere."

"You sure?" Kim asked quizzically.

"Sure. Have fun with the rest of practice, Pink," Shego said, a teasing grin on her face.

"Bye, Junior," Kim responded with a grin of her own and hung up. Still smiling, she put the Kimmunicator back in the bag and grabbed her water bottle, opening it up and taking a big swig. She turned, planning to sit down for a couple of seconds. She didn't quite make it, though, as Bonnie's taunting face regarded her from nearby. "What do you want, Bonnie?" Kim asked, knowing it had to be something with the look Bonnie was giving her.

"Nothing, really. I guess that conversation seemed rather cozy," Bonnie replied looking pointedly at Kim, "and I was just wondering if your boyfriend over there knew you were crushing on someone else."

Kim blushed at the implication but decided to ignore her warming skin. "Quit trying to make trouble, Bonnie," she said, irritated.

Bonnie chuckled, happy that she had made Kim uncomfortable. "So, who is it?" she prompted. "Anyone we know? Or is it a new guy?"

"It was a friend of mine, a female friend of mine who was asking if I could stop by later," Kim said flatly. "So she is not exactly crush material."

"Why? Because she is an ex-con?" Bonnie needled. She laughed at Kim's astonished face. "Yes, I know who you were talking to. My cousin is a lieutenant for the Middleton police force, and she told me all about your little adventure on Saturday," she explained with glee.

The lieutenant had been a Rockwaller with a different last name, Kim mused. That was why the attitude had been so very familiar. "Who I hang out with is none of your business, Bonnie," Kim said evenly, having regained her composure.

"No, it isn't," Bonnie agreed. "But this is high school and everything is everyone's business. And everyone will be so interested to hear how you are about to dump Stoppable for a freaky-looking ex-con." Kim remained silent, telling herself to calm down because Bonnie was just being Bonnie. "Oh, and by the way, Princess, if you and the green-glowing freak are friends now, and only just friends, why do you still have a picture of her in your locker?" Bonnie asked sweetly as she sauntered away.

"Kim, honey, if you kill her, you shouldn't do it with so many witnesses," Monique said softly from behind her.

Kim calmed down and smiled. "All right, girls, back to work," she called out, and the squad gathered obediently around her. They spent the next half hour going through their cheers, and when they were satisfied with their progress, practice was over. Kim grabbed her stuff and Monique and got out of the gym as soon as possible, really not wanting to run into Bonnie again.

"So what was that all about back there, Kim?" Monique asked as soon as they had gotten out of sight of the gym. "You looked ready to kick Bonnie's butt, even more so than usual."

"It was nothing, really," Kim sighed. "She heard some stories and overheard a conversation that I was having and it led to her making a few assumptions."

"About what?" Monique inquired.

"That I am crushing on someone else and I am about to leave Ron for this other person," Kim replied.

"And who are you supposed to be crushing on?" Monique said incredulously. "It has been all Ron all the time since you guys became a couple and there haven't even been any rumors about anyone else."

"Shego," Kim answered succinctly.

Monique raised an eyebrow. "The green glowing chick? The one that kept trying to kill you? Kim, even if she wasn't a girl, and even if y'all are supposed to be friends nowadays, that would still be a little weird. What gave her that idea?"

"She got some third hand information from a relative of hers who tried to arrest Shego on Saturday," Kim said. "And she overheard my conversation with Shego and Shego likes to call me 'Princess'."

"Princess?" Monique questioned, thinking she had heard wrong.

"Or Pumpkin. She has also started calling me 'Pink' ever since our adventure together, but I am really trying to break her of that one," Kim explained.

"I see," Monique said noncommittally. "And what about this whole arrest on Saturday thing?"

"Apparently Bonnie's cousin is a lieutenant for the Middleton police force, and she is the same lieutenant that tried to use bogus evidence to arrest Shego after she had given me a flying lesson. Ron wasn't with us, but other than that, I have no idea what the lieutenant saw that made her tell Bonnie there was something going on between the two of us," Kim admitted. She was about to say more, but her Kimmunicator interrupted her. "Hold on a sec, Monique," she said, switching it on.

"Hey Pumpkin," Shego greeted her.

"Hey Shego," Kim replied. "Monique and I haven't even started our studying, so it will be a while before I can come over."

"That is why I was calling, Princess," Shego interrupted her. "I got an unexpected phone call and I am going to be out of town for couple of days. I won't be there tonight, so you don't have to worry about stopping by."

"Oh, okay," Kim said. She smiled, unable to resist the urge to be nosy. "So, where are you going? Something I should be worried about or jealous of?" she asked.

"Quit fishing for information, Pumpkin," Shego replied shortly, but with a smile. "I'll see you in a couple of days."

"Fine, be like that," Kim retorted, also with a smile. "Talk to you later, Shego."

"Later, Pink," Shego answered and the connection went dead.

Kim put her Kimmunicator away, and looked up, only to find Monique looking at her with a strange little half smile on her face. "What?" Kim demanded.

"As much as I hate to admit it, Kim, Bonnie is right; you are crushing on someone else and it's not Ron," Monique stated.

"You're joking, right?" Kim asked hopefully, knowing she might not be.

"No, and you know I am not," Monique replied. Kim sighed. She wanted to be astonished and outraged at Monique's declaration, but she wasn't, and she knew it, so to act like she was would be an outright lie. "And I notice that you aren't exactly denying it, now are you?" Monique added, also noticing Kim's sudden silence on the issue.

"I can't deny that there is something between Shego and me," Kim admitted, blushing. "But I can't exactly confirm it's a crush."

"I can," Monique said firmly. "Both times you got a call from her today, your face lit up like a Christmas tree, and the instant you started talking with her or even about her, you nervously started playing with that thing around your neck, and, depending on what was said, you started blushing. With the giddiness, the nervousness and the blushing, I swear it is Josh Mankey all over again."

"You overheard one phone call, Monique," Kim protested. "How can you be so sure?"

"It wasn't just the phone call, Kim," Monique told her. "You have been acting, I don't know, off, ever since you got back from that one mission with Shego. I couldn't figure it out, but after you told me about Bonnie's suspicions, it all started making sense. The phone call was just confirmation."

"I don't want to have a crush on her, Monique," Kim said sadly just as they reached the Possible front door. Monique of course wanted to ask why, but decided to refrain until they had reached Kim's bedroom in case Kim's mom, dad or brothers happened to be there. After they had reached Kim's room, Monique opened her mouth to say something, but got distracted by a black and white photograph sitting on Kim's nightstand. Monique's eyebrows lifted as she got a better look and she looked at Kim questioningly. Kim smiled. "It's not us, Monique," she said, answering the unspoken question. "That is Shego's great-great Aunt Sheila and my great-great Aunt Mim."

"Who were obviously a couple," Monique commented. "Is that why this whole crush thing is freaking you out?"

"Partly," Kim answered.

"Is it the gay thing?" Monique asked. "Because you have to know that I don't care."

"I know you don't care," Kim replied. "And Mom and Dad would be surprised, but I know that they would still love me. It is not the gay thing." Kim sighed. "It is the Ron thing," she said. "I do love him, I know that, but ever since Shego came into the picture, I really don't know how I love him."

"Oo. That is tough," Monique said in sympathy. "Well, I am always here to talk to, if you need me."

"Thanks. I really do appreciate it," Kim said warmly. "But, I don't want to talk about it anymore, so can we just study and I will figure out my love life at a later date?"

"Sounds good from here," Monique agreed, and they studiously avoided the topic of crushes and boyfriends for the rest of the evening.

Kim's Bedroom - later that evening

Kim sighed and flipped over on to her back. Sleep just wasn't happening, because her mind kept taking her back to the conversations with Bonnie and Monique. Stupid Bonnie, she thought. Before she had stuck her nose in, Kim had been able to fool herself that Shego was just a friend. It was an odd friendship, that she would readily admit to, but it was only friendship; there was no undercurrent that had been present between them as enemies that had intensified now that they were friends and she was just being weird thinking that there was. Now, though, no such self-delusion was possible. Even Monique had been certain that Kim had a crush on Shego.

But was it a crush? Kim wondered. Or was it just curiosity? True, the underlying attraction had been there long before they had ever met Mim or Sheila. But did having them as examples make Kim more prone to think of Shego that way? Kim sighed again. She didn't know the answers. Having a sudden flash of insight, though, she realized that there was one person who might. Kim got dressed and took off for the Mansion, hoping that Mim might actually materialize for her. If not, Mim's journals would still be there and she might get some hints from those.

There was no one home; Shego was indeed gone for the evening, and Kim was grateful for it. She went upstairs to the library, knowing that was where Shego kept them. Kim had only managed to collect three of Mim's journals, but from what she had read before, those should be the ones she needed. Kim blushed, knowing she would be embarrassed by what was in them, but needing to know anyway. She had already read the "1901-1902" one of them in its entirety and there was nothing in it that could help her. Next in line was "1903-1904" and Kim settled down in the comfy wingback chair near the empty fireplace to read it.

As she read, she learned of the year in Africa that Mim and Sheila had spent together and how they had crisscrossed the continent documenting the people's lives and the state of the region. It was obvious from the tone of the entries that Mim was falling more and more in love with Sheila as they traveled, but she never said so, and Kim had to wonder if she actually realized how she felt about the other woman. "She would have had to eventually," Kim mused out loud.

"Indeed I did," came a voice from behind her, "but I did not want to. I tried everything in my power not to."

Kim jumped out of the chair and turned around immediately. "Aunt Mim?" she questioned, before seeing a pale form dressed in khakis and a white shirt off to her left. Kim smiled and her ghostly visitor smiled back.

"In the flesh, so to speak," Mim joked before gliding over to Kim. Kim rolled her eyes. "You didn't think that Junior got it only from Sheila, did you?" Mim teased.

Kim grinned wryly. "Well, I was hoping that bad puns were limited to the Goshen side of the family," she said

"Alas, but no, my dear," Mim answered with a grin of her own. She studied Kim for a moment. "So what brings you here tonight, Kimmie-Ann?" she asked, an interesting look on her face. "It is late for you to be here and the way you were reading my journal makes me think that you were searching for something."

"I was," Kim admitted. She stared at the floor for a few moments, then looked back up at Mim. "I wanted to know when and how you fell in love with Sheila and why you picked her over Jonathan," she said softly.

"And why would you want to know that, Kimmie-Ann?" Mim asked gently. "Is there something you are not telling me?"

Kim fidgeted. "Well, some people have noticed how I behave around Shego and they think that I have a crush on her," she explained.

"So you are here to ascertain if your feelings are real or if it is mere curiosity," Mim guessed. Kim nodded. "I am not sure how I will be of assistance, but what to do wish to know?" Mim replied, not liking the meddling but wanting to help Kim.

"When did you know that you had, well, feelings for Aunt Sheila?" Kim asked.

"'Feelings' is quite vague, dear, but I assume you mean romantic feelings," Mim scolded mildly. "To be completely truthful, I knew when I sent off the letter asking her to join in my adventures. But, I didn't admit I knew until exactly one year later when I was a guest at her parents' annual New Year's Eve costume ball."

"What made you admit it?" Kim asked, interested.

"The fact that I was ready to kill every single high born male in Chicago who dared to dance with Sheila that night," Mim answered truthfully. She saw Kim's face and laughed. "Jealousy is very powerful emotion, Kimmie-Ann, and it managed to break through the illusion that all I felt for Sheila was platonic. If I had no romantic interest in her, there should be no reason for me to be plotting the deaths of every male who touched her."

Kim had to agree. "How did you handle it when you realized?" she wondered.

"First, I left the room," Mim stated. "If I was to have an emotional break down, I was not going to do it in front of Chicago high society. I found a nice quiet parlor not far from the ballroom, and retired there to brood. As I sat there and pondered my life, I realized I had been fooling myself for a great many months about how I felt about Sheila and by doing so, I had complicated several more lives besides my own. Obviously, first and foremost, there was Jon. We had been engaged for all of eleven days, and here I was realizing I had romantic inclinations towards someone else."

"You were engaged to Jon?" Kim asked, mildly shocked.

"I was," Mim confirmed. "He had asked me at my parents' Christmas party, and I said yes. At the time, there had been no reason to say no, but now, sitting in that parlor, I realized there had been a significant reason to refuse him. A significant reason that had just slipped in through a side door and was looking at me with beautiful green eyes."

"What did you do?" Kim said.

"For a few moments, nothing, but apparently I appeared to be upset because Sheila asked me what was wrong. I tried to lie and claim that nothing was amiss, but Sheila knew me too well to believe me. She persisted in her questioning, and finally I admitted to one thing out of the myriad things that were bothering me: I was jealous of the many dance partners that had monopolized her attentions that evening. She grinned saucily, and, bowing, she asked me to dance. I should have run, but instead we danced, and because of it, the last wisps of doubt about my feelings for her died with the last fading stanza of that waltz." Here Mim paused, and a light blush covered her cheeks. "In fact, if we hadn't been swathed in three layers of impossible-to-remove clothing and three wings away from any sort of privacy, there is little doubt about how that night would have ended," she admitted. Kim looked at her briefly before color flooded to her own cheeks. Mim laughed. "You blush more than I do, dear, and that is not an easy feat."

Kim grinned self-consciously and rubbed her cheeks as a thought popped into her head. "If you knew how you felt about Sheila in December, why were you in that cabin by yourself in October of the following year?" she asked, remembering the entry she had read a while back.

"Because I was running away," Mim replied. "I knew who I wanted and I knew what I had to do, but I didn't want to, so I ran."

"Not to be naïve, Aunt Mim, but why was it such a big deal?" Kim asked.

"You have to understand, Kimmie-Ann; it was a different time," Mim pointed out. "Though nearly impossible to prove in court, had anyone been able to prove that Sheila and I were lovers, we could have been sent to prison for debauchery. But even besides that, by choosing Sheila, I would also be deeply hurting a man I cared for very much and relinquishing the last of what I considered to be normal in my life. I did not want to do either."

Kim's brow scrunched as she thought about that. Mim in her time would have been far from normal, Kim realized. Mim had a career; she traveled the world; she did what she wanted to do without really giving a crap about what society thought she should. But, even with such an attitude, being the girl who could do anything in a world that thought you could (or should do) almost nothing must have been tough. Kim could see how you might not want to give up the one thing that allowed you to fit it, even if it meant you sacrificed your own happiness. "Then why did you do it, Aunt Mim? Why did you choose Sheila?" Kim asked.

"Because I loved her more than I wanted to be normal," Mim replied truthfully. "And after a few weeks, I was far too busy being happy to worry about being normal."

Kim smiled. "Do you think I could have that with Shego?" she asked.

"I have no idea, my dear," Mim replied truthfully. "In spite of our similarities, you and Junior are different than Sheila and myself. For one thing, Junior is much more of a true criminal than Sheila ever dreamt of being. You also live in a time where you will not be arrested because of your preferences. You can, however, be shunned for them, and, unlike my time, it would be difficult to disguise a love affair, for people nowadays want to create scandal wherever they may find it."

"I am okay with that," Kim stated. Mim looked at her in mild disbelief. "No, truthfully, I am okay with it," Kim insisted. She grinned and Mim was amused to see the mischief behind it. "After all, I am descended from generations of life-long rebels and it might be nice to finally fit in," Kim declared.

"I can understand that, but what about Ronald? Do you not care for him?" Mim reminded her.

The smile faded from Kim's face and she dropped back down into the wingback chair. "I don't know, Aunt Mim," she confessed. "I mean, I do love him and we work well together, both as friends and as a couple. But I guess I am scared that I am only his girlfriend because he is my best friend and he wants me to be his girlfriend, not because I want to be his girlfriend."

"I see," Mim said. "I suppose that I can only tell I did love Jon and I loved him as more than a friend. If it had not been for Sheila, I would have happily married him and been happily married to him for the rest of my life."

"But," Kim prompted.

"But Sheila did come along," Mim continued. "It was one of the hardest decisions I had to make, and in the end, I had to choose the heart I could not bear to break."

"Meaning you loved her more," Kim said.

"I suppose, but the pain of hurting Jon lasted for quite a while," Mim replied.

Kim slumped further down into the chair. "I don't really know what to do about this," she said wistfully.

Mim smiled gently. "Remember this, my dearest Kimmie-Ann: you are a teenager," she reminded her. "Although everything seems of immeasurable import now, you actually have many years of your life left to live. I was married at 22, but those were the times; neither Ron nor Junior has to be your lifelong choice."

Kim mulled that over. "No, they don't," she realized. She thought a little to herself and then turned once more to her ghostly shadow. "I do have one more question for you though," she said

"You can ask me anything, you know that," Mim reiterated.

"Was there ever anyone you met after Sheila that you wished you were able to be with? Did you ever regret choosing her?" Kim asked.

Mim smiled. "That inquiry is comprised of two questions, but, no, to both," she admitted softly. "Sheila was one of a kind and no one could ever compare. Of course there were times when I was angry with her, and during those times I did wonder what my life would have been like with Jon. But then, even as I seethed, I would realize that I would rather be fighting with her than be at peace with Jon. And sooner or later, either she would come and adorably apologize or I would begin to miss her and I would apologize, and I would laugh at my own foolishness for entertaining such thoughts."

"Meaning you fell head over heels for Sheila in spite of everything and you stayed that way for the rest of your life," Kim interpreted.

"Precisely, but…" Mim began.

"…Shego is not Sheila, I know, Aunt Mim," Kim interrupted affectionately. "I get it." Kim stretched and looked around, deciding it was about time for her to go home. "Thanks for tonight," she said. "You are the one person I knew would understand."

"You are certainly welcome, but I think it has actually become morning," Mim pointed out. Kim glanced at the wall clock, and indeed, it read 2 AM. Kim yawned, suddenly feeling very tired. "The couch is quite comfortable, Kimmie-Ann, and you are welcome to stay."

Kim thought about it. Home was just right around the corner, but then again, the couch was on the other side of the room. "Maybe I will," she decided sleepily, crossing the room and collapsing on it. As she was pulling up the covers, one more thought occurred to her. "Aunt Mim?" she called out.

"Still here," Mim replied.

"What if Shego doesn't have those feelings for me?" Kim asked when Mim had glided over.

Mim chuckled. "Do you know where the chain that holds the dampener comes from?"

"No," Kim answered, puzzled at the change in subject.

"Well, then, let me tell you a story. It used to be mine, and it was one of the first courting presents that Sheila ever gave me," Mim told her. "We gave it to Junior, along with the amulet, when she just a child and we made her promise that she would always care for it and never lose it. She promised, and even at that age that stubborn will was so entrenched that we knew if she made us that promise, she would keep it. Anyway, about a week later, she came shuffling into the living room with the oddest look on her face. 'Can I ask you about this?' she said, pulling the chain and amulet out from under her shirt. We agreed, and her first question came to me. 'This was yours, right?' I said that indeed it was. Her next question was for Sheila. 'And you gave it to Nana Mim, right?' she questioned further. Sheila nodded. 'Why?' came the third question. Sheila paused, obviously thinking about what to say, but she had never lied to Junior and she was not about to start. 'I loved your Nana Mim and I wanted her to marry me.' Junior pondered that for a couple of seconds and then looked at me. 'Then why did you give it to me?' she asked. 'Well,' I said, 'Because I have already married your Nana Sheila, she said I could give to whomever I wanted just as long as I loved them very, very much. So I gave it to you.' Junior broke out into the widest smile and jumped into my arms. 'I love you too, Nana Mim,' she said, settling into my lap. She sat still for a few seconds, but then started fidgeting, a sure sign that she still had something else on her mind. 'Do you have something else to ask, Junior?' I prompted. 'Yes,' she admitted. 'What is it?' I asked. 'If I ever find someone I love as much as Nana Sheila loves you and you love me, can I give it to her?' Sheila and I looked at one another and smiled and then I gathered her up into my arms. 'Of course you may,' I said. 'But you have to love that person very, very much.' 'Thanks, Nana, I promise,' she said happily and whenever we saw her after that she always had the amulet on." Mim paused and smiled at Kim. "Junior could have left the amulet on that obelisk, Kimmie-Ann, but she found a way to take it away from the temple. She then gave it to you." Kim looked at her quizzically, wondering if Aunt Mim had truly said what Kim thought she had. "Good night, dear," Mim said with a smirk and disappeared.

Kim stared at where Mim had been, trying to process it all. Eventually, though, sleep overtook her and she nodded off. When she was asleep, a quiet, previously invisible spirit materialized and looked at her fondly. She started to leave but was interrupted by an unexpected addition.

"Am I allowed to meddle now that you have?" Sheila asked Mim as she appeared in the room.

"I did not meddle," Mim insisted. "And I thought we agreed you should stay behind."

Sheila ignored her pointed remark. "You tell Mim-jay the story of the chain and yet you are not meddling?" Sheila asked incredulously.

"I was informing, not meddling," Mim huffed.

"Surely you jest," Sheila scoffed.

"All right," Mim said grumpily. "Perhaps I meddled a bit. It still does not mean they will fall for each other."

"Open your eyes, my love," Sheila informed her with a smile. "They already have."

Mim sighed. "And I do not know if we are to be congratulated or blamed," she mumbled.

"We will figure it out later," Sheila assured her. She sneaked a peek at Kim. "She is finally asleep; we should leave her in peace."

"Now you are jesting," Mim said as they faded away. "If she is in love with Junior, peace will be a long-forgotten memory. She is a Goshen after all." Sheila said nothing, but laughed as the two of them slipped back into their own plane.


	4. Lunch Break

Chapter 4 – Lunch Break

There was something to be said about sleeping at home, Kim mused as she took off at a dead run toward school. Home had toiletries, her backpack, her alarm clock, and perhaps most importantly, a closet full of her own clothes. At least there had been a shower stocked with shampoo and soap at the Mansion, so Kim was confident that she didn't stink, but she was seconds away from being late to class with no homework and dressed head to toe in Shego's clothing. The only good point about the entire situation was that Shego had really nice taste in clothes and the budget and/or burglary skills to back it up, so Kim was lucky to have had a lot of nice-looking stuff to choose from.

Kim bolted through the door just as the bell was ringing, and luckily for her, her first class was fairly close. She slid into her seat just as the bell stopped ringing and was greeted by Ron, who much to her surprise, was holding her backpack.

"Morning, KP!" Ron chirped. "I stopped by your house this morning to pick you up, but your Mom said you weren't there. She asked me to bring you this because you forgot it." He paused, noticing her clothes, and gave her the once over. "Nice threads, KP," he said admiringly.

"They're borrowed," Kim said embarrassedly.

"They would have to be," Monique chimed in from her other side. "Unless you are getting a whole lotta money from baby-sitting." She looked at the form-fitting v-neck sweater Kim had picked out. "It might be fluorescent green, but you know that is cashmere, right?" she asked. "And that those jeans are only sold in about 2 places in the entire United States?"

"I don't know if they were actually bought," Kim muttered.

"And just who are you borrowing from?" Monique asked pointedly.

"I got stuck at the Mansion last night," Kim admitted. Monique's eyebrows rose and she said nothing, but her expressive face went through several shifts ranging from smugness to concern as she thought about it. Ron, still half-listening to the conversation, was surprised to hear about this development.

"You were at the Mansion? Why? Was something up with Shego?" he asked.

"She wasn't home," Kim answered, glad to clarify. "I was there to see Mim."

"Ah," Ron said, nodding his head.

"Who's Mim?" Monique asked.

"The Possible in the picture you saw in my room," Kim answered.

"I got the impression that both of those ladies had passed on," Monique said.

"They did, about 15 years ago," Kim answered. "Mim's a ghost."

Monique looked at Kim and then looked at Ron for confirmation. He nodded. She shrugged, not really surprised, and turned her attention to Mr. Barkin, who today was subbing for their biology teacher and who was glaring at them all for being disruptive and talking when class was supposed to start. Kim and Ron followed suit and class began, effectively tabling the conversation for the moment.

The three of them split up after class, each heading to a different elective. Monique and Ron were in the advanced home ec classes on the other side of the school and Kim was in the language arts class that was just down the hallway. They said bye to one another, and as Monique and Ron were making their way to Advanced Design and Advanced Cuisines of the World, respectively, Ron's cell phone went off. "Yo, what up, dawg?" Ron asked.

"Can't you just say hello like a regular person, Stoppable?" Shego implored.

"Hey Shego!" Ron said happily. "We were just talking about you." His brow scrunched. "But why are you calling me and not Kim?"

"I couldn't get a hold of her. I called Nerdlinger and he couldn't get a hold of her either," Shego answered. "Then I remembered that you were the only one with the brains to have a regular old cell phone."

"Um, thanks?" Ron replied, not sure if it was a complement or not. "So, what do you need, SG?"

Shego rolled her eyes. He had insisted on calling her that most of the time ever since she joined the team. She still wasn't quite sure if she liked it or it annoyed the shit out of her. "I was calling to see what time you guys get out for lunch. We have some stuff to talk about and we need to talk about it soon," she told him.

"We have lunch from 12:30 to 1:00," Ron replied. "Hey, are you gonna spring for Bueno Nacho?"

"Great. I will see the three of you then. And no, I refuse to actually spend any more money in that place. Bye, Stoppable," Shego said, cutting off the call. She tossed her cell phone down into the seat beside of her, needing to focus all of her concentration on flying. Jack Hench had done a really nice job and the jet was now gorgeous. Gone was the hideous mottled rainbow paint job; it had been replaced with stealth-fighter black and the stylish "KP" logo on the left and right sides of the tail. Jack had got it done more quickly than Shego had anticipated and she had been surprised to get his call yesterday. She had also expected it to take longer than it had to get out to his place, collect both the plane and some information and get back. That had been why she had told Kimmie not to expect her for a couple of days, yet she had managed to turn around the entire trip in less than 24 hours. She was glad she had though. Jack had told her some things about those planes, it fit with the suspicions she already had, and something major was about to go down; she just knew it. She flew for a few minutes, just thinking, but something whizzed by far too close on the left and it snapped Shego out her funk. She shook her head, clearing it, and made for the hangar at the Middleton airport. She landed about 12:15, stashed the plane and grabbed her car, a brand-new green Cobra Mustang, peeling out of the parking lot and hauling ass towards Middleton High.

She parked in a visitor spot and strode in through the front door just as the clock struck 12:30. She glanced around for Kim and/or Ron, but she did not see them immediately. So, seeing one person in the crowd that she knew, she strolled up to him and asked after Kim and Ron's whereabouts. "Hey, Big Mike," she said, looking up. "Have you seen Kimmie or Stoppable around?"

"Can't say I have, Shego," he answered, looking down. He looked sheepish and shuffled his feet. "Sorry about last week," he apologized.

"S'okay, Big Mike," Shego reassured him. "You didn't know I was working for Kimmie nowadays, and you always did know how to put me out of commission. Just sit elsewhere from now on, would ya?"

"Sure thing, Shego," he said. "And if I see Kim, I'll let her know you are looking for her."

"Thanks, Mike," Shego replied.

"If you are looking for your girlfriend, she will be coming down that hallway," an annoyingly dismissive voice from behind told them.

They both turned. Big Mike growled and Shego had to agree with the sentiment. "Ah, Rockwaller," she said. "A perfect reminder of why I hated high school more than I hated my family."

"Why? Because a freak like you could never fit in and people like me are constant reminders of that?" Bonnie taunted.

"No, because I was still on the good side in high school and I couldn't murder petty little bitches like you," Shego said honestly. She sidled up to Bonnie, pinning her up against a locker, and Bonnie could feel the menace flowing off of her. It made Bonnie duly terrified and she shrunk back. "A word of advice, Rockwaller," Shego said low and purposefully, "Stop trying to stir up shit regarding Kimmie and Stoppable. As a matter of fact, stop pestering Kimmie altogether or I might have go to back to my evil ways."

Bonnie wanted to crawl into the locker, but natural hubris took over first. "Fine, whatever," she spat, trying to sound brave, but still looking mostly terrified. Satisfied, Shego turned away, only to here Bonnie mutter "Psycho." She whipped around, ready to make good on her promise when a voice stopped her.

"Shego!" Kim called. "Over here!" Shego smiled, quite unintentionally considering she was performing her patented hard-ass bitch routine.

Bonnie snorted. "Someone looks like someone is on a short leash," she sniffed.

"You'd better hope she never lets me off the chain, Rockwaller," Shego informed her in a menacing purr. Bonnie cowered. "Later, Big Mike," Shego said, turning around.

"Later, Shego" Big Mike answered.

Shego nodded in acknowledgement and started walking through the crowd, scanning for a familiar red head as she did so. She found Kim easily enough and started heading in that direction only to stop abruptly when she was able to see Kim in her entirety. Though her face contracted into a scowl, she wasn't actually angry; she was completely blown away by the sight of Kim in her clothes. Shego was so thoroughly blown away that she wasn't really firing on all cylinders, and that had caused her expression to revert to its default position of grumpy. She stood there for a few moments more, and as thought started trickling back in and she started getting her hormones under control, she finally got why Nana Sheila had been perfectly content to stare at Nana Mim when there were sharp, pointy and death-wielding things all around them.

Kim, even from where she was, could see the expression and she sighed. Shego was angry, or so she thought. Just one more annoyance that her choice of clothing had caused, Kim grumbled to herself. She hadn't wanted to anger Shego, nor had she wanted the attention that had been lavished on her due to her choice of clothing. Add in the fact the clothes themselves had smelled so cloyingly of Shego that Kim had been distracted for most of the day, and Kim was really wishing she had just taken the time to go home and get her own clothes, tardy or not. She threaded herself through the crowd, intent on getting to Shego to apologize for borrowing her clothes without permission. She had made it about halfway when she was able to see Shego from top to bottom, and much like Shego had done, she stopped dead in her tracks. It had been a while since she had seen Shego in the catsuit, over a month to be exact, and now, being quite a bit more aware of certain realities than she had been previously, Kim realized how formfitting it really was.

The charge between them was palpable, and every student in the hallway felt it. Most of the students glanced at them and hurried away to find a good place to watch. Pretty much the entire school knew who Shego was (the rumor mill had made sure of that) but few knew that she and Kim were now friends and so most thought that a fight was going to break out. Even those who knew they were friends thought a fight was going to break out. Monique was the only exception; she knew exactly what was going on.

The tableau held for a few moments more before Shego's brain kicked in all the way and she roused herself by repeating the mantra of "underage straight girl with a boyfriend" over and over in her head. Relaxing her expression, she continued her path towards Kim. "So, what's the deal, here, Kimmie?" she asked when she got there. "Run out of crap in your own closet and decided to raid mine? That whole 'the house is half yours' thing doesn't apply to my clothing, ya know."

Kim, having snapped out of it when Shego had stepped up to her, rolled her eyes. "I know that, Shego," she said. "I got stuck at the Mansion last night and I had nothing to wear this morning."

"Stuck at the Mansion?" Shego queried. "Don't you live like five minutes away?"

"I do, but it was like two in the morning and I was tired," Kim countered. "And I was told it was all right."

"By whom?" Shego asked. "I wasn't home last night."

"My spiritual advisor," Kim replied with a small grin.

Shego rolled her eyes, knowing what Kim was getting at. "So, who popped out of the mirror this time?" she asked nonchalantly, hoping that it had not been Nana Sheila because Nana Sheila would flat out tell Kim exactly what Shego did not want Kim to know.

"Aunt Mim," Kim replied, to Shego's relief.

"It would be just like her to offer to let you stay," Shego grumbled. "She always was the softhearted one in that pair. Did she say you could wear my clothes, too?"

"No," Kim admitted. "But I was late and I needed something to wear."

"Well, you made a good choice," Shego acquiesced. "They look better on you than they do on me." Predictably, Kim blushed and Shego rolled her eyes for a second time. "I won't get pissed if you get them dry cleaned before you give them back to me," she offered.

"Deal," Kim agreed. "If you tell me where you got this," she said, pointing to the yellow and green "KP" logo that she had noticed was affixed to the left shoulder of Shego's catsuit after she had come out of her lustful haze.

"Oh, that," Shego replied noncommittally. "I had it made and then sewed it on. I figured it might give people a heads up on what side I was on."

"You sewed it on?" Kim asked incredulously.

"Yes, I sewed it on," Shego countered. Kim still looked dubious. "It's moving a needle and thread in and out of fabric, Princess. It is not rocket science."

Kim smiled. "I like it," she said, wanting to touch it, but given its proximity to Shego's left breast, she just wasn't going to go there.

"Of course you do. You want to put your mark on everything," Shego replied, not unkindly, but with obvious deeper meaning. Before Kim could respond to it though, Shego had moved on. "Stoppable!" she barked. "You ready for lunch?"

"Always, SG," Ron replied amiably, appearing at her side.

"Good. Then let's go," Shego replied shortly. "You guys only get a half hour."

"Bueno Nacho is only five minutes away," Ron pointed out.

"We aren't going there, Stoppable," Shego retorted irritably. "So get that thought out of your one track mind."

"One day you will appreciate the beauty of the Bueno Nacho," Ron insisted.

"Yeah, whatever," Shego said. "Let's go."

They ended up at MacRonald's®, and after they had ordered and sat down, Shego began explaining where she had been and what she had found out. "Those planes were a custom job done by Jack Hench," she explained, passing out some photographs of them as works-in-progress. "Jack said he had never dealt with the guy before and that he paid cash."

Kim looked at one of the photographs. "Does Mr. Hench have any idea of what he looks like?" she asked.

"No," Shego answered. "Jack never saw him, either in person or by video phone. The only thing he could tell me was that he had a weird sort of maniacal chuckle."

"That isn't much to go on," Kim complained mildly. "What are we supposed to do? Make every villain we find laugh?"

"We could send Rufus up their shirts," Ron offered. At the mention of his name, Rufus looked up from where he was gorging himself on Shego's fries and nodded.

"Hey, you little naked mole rat bastard! Get out of my fries!" Shego commanded in an annoyed voice. Rufus looked offended and went to snack on Ron's fries. Shego zapped him with a small amount of plasma from her forefinger as he went by, causing him to jump. He turned around and squeakily told her off. Shego chuckled, handing him one of her fries as a peace offering. Rufus accepted, ate it and promptly ran up her sleeve to perch on her shoulder. Shego sighed and Kim giggled. Rufus had taken a shine to Shego and though she would never admit it, Shego liked him too.

"So we know a little something else, but not much more about the planes," Kim stated, getting them back on track. "We don't even know who bought them."

"No, we don't," Shego allowed. "But we do know where they were delivered. Jack gave me the coordinates and the place is somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico."

"Who had lairs there?" Kim pondered. "Dementor had one, Monkey Fist had one, and DNamy had one, but they all got destroyed."

Shego shrugged. "We may be dealing with someone new here, Princess," she pointed out. "But, you could ask Nerdlinger to check the coordinates for you and see if you've been there before." Kim looked embarrassed. "But you don't have your Kimmunicator, now do you?" Shego taunted.

"No," Kim admitted. She thought for a moment, and then said something that had been on her mind for most of the conversation. "So how do we know this information is accurate?" she asked reasonably. "Hench works for the people we go up against; he could be deliberately misleading us."

"True," Shego replied. "But he is also a businessman. He knows how much money I have at my disposal and he is not about to piss off one of his better customers, especially one that has the means to destroy his entire operation."

"Did you blackmail him for this information?" Kim asked, dismayed.

"No," Shego replied truthfully. "I bribed him." Kim sighed. "What, Pink?" Shego asked with a smirk. "You can take the girl out of the criminal underworld but you can't take the criminal underworld out of the girl."

"We'll see about that," Kim muttered.

"Is that a threat, Princess?" Shego asked, her grin getting wider at the thought of a challenge.

"Maybe," Kim retorted, a grin forming on her own face. Ron rolled his eyes and Rufus followed suit. Shego had actually melded with the two of them far better than Ron had anticipated, but a certain times, like now for instance, the old habits flared up, causing Shego and Kim to revert to their hyper-competitive ways.

He was about to say something, but was stopped by the sound of Shego's wrist kimmunicator going off.

"What's up, Nerdlinger?" Shego inquired of Wade when she had answered it. There was no way in hell she would ever answer with "What's the sitch?"

"There's been a break in at the N-Bohrium," Wade told them.

"The who in the where now?" Shego asked. "Am I just supposed to know what or where in the hell that is?"

"It is the chemical plant on the edge of town," Kim explained. "You know, Niels Bohr, the physicist guy." Shego still looked blank. "It is a play on the element named after him because it is a chemical plant," Kim further clarified.

Shego looked at her expressionless for several seconds before quirking an eyebrow. "You are diving into the murky waters of geekdom by knowing that," she stated. "You are aware of that, right, Pink?"

"My parents are geeks," Kim reminded her. "It is genetic." She looked across the table. "Better take it to go, Ron," she said. "We have a mission."

"Right behind you, KP," Ron said, shoving the remainder of his food in a bag, and together the three of them got up and left the restaurant.


	5. Surfin' the Crime Wave

Chapter 5 – Surfin' the Crime Wave

"You have got to be kidding me," Shego muttered as they walked into the factory. Science crap was everywhere and it wasn't just chemicals. "I thought you said this was a chemical factory, Princess."

"It is," Kim replied, "but they also sell a lot of other stuff."

"Like nerd shirts, apparently," Shego answered, holding up a rather lurid specimen that had the phrase "Geneticists do it in a sequence" emblazoned across the front.

"Festive wear for the discerning scientists is one niche of the many that we fill here at the N-Bohnrium," a new voice informed them. All four of them turned to look at the newcomer, a perky, sharply-dressed man with a killer smile. "Our parent company Biofun is determined to increase our sales in more than just what is considered to be normal in the sciences."

"Yeah, thanks for that," Shego said, raising an eyebrow. "I assume you contacted us about a theft?"

"Yes, and thank you for coming so quickly. I am Benjamin Zene, and it so nice to make your acquaintance," he said sincerely.

"So, Mr. Zene, what was stolen?" Kim asked, jumping right into mission mode.

"Only two items, and not much of either," he answered. "It makes the whole thing rather strange."

"What exactly did they steal?" Kim prompted.

"Ten liters of one Molar hydrochloric acid and ten liters of one Molar sodium hydroxide," he replied. "The retail value is less than $250."

"What about mischief value?" Kim asked. "What kind of damage could this stuff do?"

Shego unexpectedly answered for him. "Not much," she said flatly. "You are only looking at like two and a half gallons of each. That isn't much of an acid bath."

"You could blind someone or kill them with it," Kim pointed out.

"You could, but it would like be one someone," Shego countered. "That is not much mischief."

"Then why steal only ten liters of each?" Kim asked.

"Stupidity? Lack of forethought? I dunno, Princess," Shego shrugged.

"Crap. More questions than answers," Kim muttered. She turned back to Mr. Zene. "Did the thief leave any clues?"

"We caught the perpetrator on the closed circuit video, but that, along with the footprints that were left just add to the strangeness," Mr. Zene answered. "Come, I'll show you."

They all politely followed him to the back room, a portion of which was roped off with yellow caution tape. As they got closer, Shego noticed something immediately and knelt down to get a better look. "No way in hell those are what I think they are," she muttered. "Mole rat! Front and center!" she commanded. Rufus popped his head out of Ron's pocket and chittered up at her, making Mr. Zene aware, for the first time, of his presence. Mr. Zene yelped and pointed at Rufus in shock.

"That's the thief!" Mr. Zene gasped in shock.

Shego sighed. "I guess they were," she decided. "Come here a sec, Roof," she said, and Rufus amiably left Ron's pocket and ran over to her, cautiously making his way around Mr. Zene, who was looking at his mole rat self as though he were the spawn of the devil.

"You think Rufus is the one who stole your stuff?" Ron clarified incredulously.

"He looks just like what we saw on the security tape," Mr. Zene said, but as he studied Rufus carefully as Rufus ran to Shego, he grew less and less convinced.

When Rufus drew near to her, Shego grabbed him by his midsection and hoisted him so that all four of his paws were pointed toward the floor and gently lowered him over the yellow tape until he was hovering over the set of footprints that had been made in the spilled crystal violet solution on the floor.

"Not me!" he insisted even though the footprints in the dye matched the size and shape of his own feet perfectly.

"I know, dude," Shego assured him. "It wasn't our mole rat, Mr. Zene," she announced matter-of-factly. "His paws aren't purple, which they should be if the theft was recent. When was the break in?"

"About ten this morning," Mr. Zene answered. "And you are right; crystal violet wouldn't have faded that quickly."

"Could we see that video now?" Shego asked.

"Of course. Right this way," Mr. Zene replied, glancing at Rufus with a puzzled look on his face.

"How did you know that stuff stained so badly?" Kim asked. "How did you even know what it was?"

"I got it on my clothes once. Don't ask, Pink," Shego ordered. Kim grinned but said nothing, knowing she could get the information out of Shego later if she really really tried. Puppy-dog pouts worked on everyone, it seemed.

The surveillance video showed them what all of them expected to see. A small naked mole rat-looking creature was shown to have come creeping in to the warehouse, to have loaded up the pilfered chemicals on to a wagon-like thing, to have spilled the crystal violet and walked right through it and finally to have made a hasty exit pulling the stuff out on the cart. Everyone looked at Rufus and he glared back. "Not me!" he repeated emphatically.

"No one really thinks it was you, Rufus, and we can prove your innocence," Kim assured him. "Mr. Zene, do have any other bottles of that stuff around?"

"We have cases of it," Mr. Zene answered and ran off to fetch a bottle. He returned quickly and handed the bottle of hydrochloric acid to Kim, who set it on the floor.

"Try lifting that, Rufus," she suggested.

Rufus gave her the what-are-you-nuts? glance, shrugged and tried lifting it. He failed miserably, of course, and Kim and Shego simultaneously frowned. They glanced at one another, eyebrows lifting as they both wondered who would try to frame a naked mole rat. "We are sure that it wasn't Rufus, sir," Kim said, and Shego nodded in agreement.

"No, I don't think it was," Mr. Zene agreed with them. "But why would they want us to think so?"

"Even mole rats have enemies," Shego said cynically. "Was there any other evidence?"

"No, that was about it," Mr. Zene replied. "Would you like to look around to see if you can see anything else I might have missed?"

"I think that would be a good idea," Kim started to say, but was interrupted by Shego's wrist kimmunicator going off once more.

"Yeah?" she inquired.

"We just had another hit on the site," Wade told her. "Now there has been a break in at the Rhapsodizing Rutabaga."

"The tree-hugger food factory in town?" Shego asked. "You're kidding, right?"

"Nope. They were broken into last night and just discovered it when they came in today," Wade answered.

"All right. I'll tell Kimmie and we'll see if we want to pack it up here and head over there," Shego told him.

"I'll let them know. Bye, Shego," Wade signed off.

"Princess! Stoppable!" Shego called out to Kim and Ron, one of whom was looking for evidence and the other of whom was playing with the Biofun DNA-in-a-box kit. "We got a call about another break in."

"Where this time?' Kim asked, putting down her carefully-crafted double helix.

"Closet nerd, I'm telling ya," Shego muttered before answering. "The Rhapsodizing Rutabaga," she said.

"Another factory?" Kim questioned. "We should check it out. That's odd."

"Yup, it is," Shego confirmed. "Come up with anything yet, Stoppable?" Shego asked Ron. Ron looked up and shook his head. "Do you want to stay here and keep looking or do you want to come with?" she asked him.

"I don't think there is anything to find, SG," Ron admitted. "Even Rufus can't find anything."

"All right. Let's go then," she suggested.

"Sounds good," Kim agreed and she turned to Mr. Zene. "If you are okay with it, we are going to check out this other robbery, Mr. Zene," she said. "I have a weird hunch that they are connected somehow, and what we find there might help here."

"Of course, by all means you should go," Mr. Zene assured her. "I think I have told you everything that I need to tell you and other folks need your help."

"Cool," Kim replied. "We will be in touch as soon as we know anything," she promised.

"Fair enough," Mr. Zene said. "Thank you and good luck with the next one."

"Thanks," Kim said sincerely.

They all piled into Shego's car and took off for the next burglarized factory. They were met at the door by a smaller woman dressed in a long flowing skirt with long flowing hair that left an olfactory wake of patchouli everywhere that she walked. "Welcome to the Rhapsodizing Rutabaga," she said spacily, and it unnervingly reminded Shego of Stevie Nicks. And not the coherent, good musician Stevie Nicks of the seventies, but the spaced-out, odd-lyric writing, Klonopin-popping Stevie of the eighties. The image made Shego want to chuckle, an urge she had to suppress further when the lady introduced herself. "I am Beatrice Tnick," she informed them dreamily.

Kim noticed the barely suppressed grin masquerading as a smirk and she wondered briefly about it before turning her attention to the reason why they were here. "You contacted us about a break-in, ma'am?" she asked politely.

"Oh, yes, of course, you must be Kim Possible," she enthused. "Oh, do please come in. We need your help immediately."

"So what exactly was taken, ma'am?" Kim asked as they went into the factory. Nothing seemed to be out of place and seemingly everything was running smoothly.

"It was nothing here in the factory proper; it was in the storage area," Ms. Tnick answered. "And please call me Bea. Everyone else does."

"Um, sure thing, Bea," Shego chimed in, deciding to talk now that she was sure she wouldn't giggle.

"Why hello," Bea said, really noticing Shego for the first time. "I didn't notice you standing there. And what is your name?"

"Shego," Shego said promptly before Kim could chime in with "Sheila", or worse and more likely, "Junior."

"Shego. What a lovely and unusual name," Bea said happily. "And what a lovely organic shade of green your skin is. How ever did you accomplish it?"

"A fantastic mineral treatment," Shego answered sardonically, but Bea didn't pick up on the sarcasm.

"How divine," she sighed. Kim, Ron and Shego looked at one another, but she roused herself from her inner musings before anyone could say anything. "Please, let me show you what was taken," she said, ushering them into the back room. "It wasn't much, in terms of material goods," she said. She picked up a clipboard and began to read off a tally that someone had written. "They took almost our whole supply of vegan gelatin, as well as several sacks of sugar and salt. They also stole several cartons of brewer's yeast, brewer's yeast extract, baking soda, caked soybean extract, twenty gallons of vinegar and twenty gallons of organic whole milk."

"Sounds like someone just didn't want to stop at the Whole Paycheck," Shego said as an aside to Kim. Bea overheard and answered her, completely unfazed by the unflattering terminology used for one of their biggest customers.

"No, it wouldn't have been for an individual's use," she objected. "They took enough for a whole commune or even a co-op."

"You don't say," Shego replied sarcastically before she could help herself. Kim gave her a sideways glance and Shego smirked.

Bea, fortunately, was still immune to sarcasm. "I do say," she affirmed, and Kim really had to glare at Shego to prevent another wisecrack or a full out chuckle from escaping.

"Do you have any kind of surveillance equipment?" Kim asked, hoping that if they had one, it could at least give them a direction in which to start looking.

"Only in the main factory," Bea replied. "We had no camera in the storage area. The thief, however, did leave some things behind."

"Could we see them?" Kim asked.

"Certainly," Bea said without hesitation. "We left everything like we found it so that you might be able to glean something."

"Perfect," Kim nodded and Bea led them all into the other room. Kim stopped short when she entered, recognizing what was on the floor immediately. "No way," she breathed. She grabbed Shego's hand, or more specifically, her wrist and fired up her kimmunicator. "Wade," she said when his questioning face appeared, "I need you to contact my Kimmunicator."

"Sure thing, Kim," Wade said. He frowned, thinking. "But isn't your Kimmunicator at home?" he asked.

"That is what we are checking," Kim said grimly. "Because it looks like it could be here on the floor."

Wade did as he was asked, and everyone but Bea jumped when four chimes rang out. "Cool. Roof and I will have company in the Pen," Shego deadpanned. Kim looked at her, angry. Shego winced. "Keep my shirt on, Pumpkin," she said, backpedaling. "I was only joking."

"No one is going to jail," Kim said firmly. "And when I find out who has been in my room, there is going to be a price to pay."

"The expression is 'hell to pay,' Pink,' Shego corrected her.

"I don't like to swear," Kim countered. "Anyway, let's go check it out and see if they left anything else behind."

Shego strolled over and squatted down, looking at the scene carefully. "You still there, Nerdlinger?' she asked.

"Sure am, Shego," Wade responded. "What do you need?"

"There are some red strands of hair and some cloth fibers over here," she said. 'Do you have the means to analyze them? You know, DNA, fiber matching, bullshit like that?"

"Sure do," Wade said. "Use your wrist kimmunicator to scan it."

Shego did as she was told and waited. Wade did his thing, and within a few minutes, he had one of the answers. "The hair is not Kim's," he told them. "It's her mom's."

"My mom's?" Kim asked, skeptically. "But she was on duty at the hospital last night."

"Whoever stole the Kimmunicator grabbed the wrong hair out of the brush, Pumpkin," Shego stated. "What about the fibers?"

"I need something to match them up against," Wade answered.

"It's a bit of my turtleneck," Kim decided after crouching next to Shego and getting a better look at it. "I can't be 100 positive, but I am like 98 sure."

"And just when did you acquire microscopic vision?" Shego inquired facetiously.

"Stuff it, Junior," Kim retorted.

"Boy, someone gets cranky when she is being framed," Shego noticed. "Was there anything else left behind, Bea?" she asked the distractedly listening Bea.

"No," Bea answered. She looked at them languidly. "Did I hear right?" she asked. "Does the evidence we found point to Ms. Possible?"

"Yes, it does," Kim admitted. "But I swear I didn't do it."

"Of course you didn't, my dear," Bea replied soothingly. "You have no cause. It is obvious that this is all a setup by the Man." Kim and Shego looked at one another with identically quirked eyebrows. "Fight the power, little sisters," Bea said, raising her fist slightly in salute.

"Um, yeah, thanks," Shego said hurriedly. "Could we take this stuff back?" she asked, indicating the items on the floor.

"Of course," Bea answered, reaching it over and picking it up. "Here you are." Kim accepted the items from her. "Do you think you will be able to find the real thief?" Bea asked.

"Yes," Kim said determinedly.

"How splendid," Bea replied. "We will be waiting to hear what you find out. In the meantime, you don't need to worry about us calling the fuzz or anything."

"Thank you. I appreciate it," Kim said honestly.

"I think we are done here, Princess," Shego said, glancing around.

"Yup, I think we are," Kim agreed. "We will let you know when we find something," she told Bea.

"Thank you, Ms. Possible," Bea said mellowly. Kim nodded, looked at Ron and Shego, both whom also nodded and together they went back out into the parking lot.

"You guys really interested in going back to school or would you like to come with me?" Shego asked as they stood by her car.

"Why? Where are you going?" Kim responded.

"I want to go check out the Middleton Botanical Gardens and the Space Center," she said. "I would like to see my supposed crime scenes."

Ron and Kim looked at one another and shrugged. "Class is almost over," Ron pointed out.

Kim consulted her watch. "Yeah, it is," she said. She looked at Shego. "All right then. Let's go."

"Shotgun!" Ron called out and Kim glared at him from the back seat all the way to the Botanical Gardens.

"Ya know, you would think since I supposedly robbed the place that I would know where in the hell we are supposed to be going," Shego grumbled as they walked by yet another greenhouse.

"May I help you young folks with something?" a kindly older voice asked from behind them. They turned to see an elderly man standing behind them in overalls, a sunhat and gardening gloves.

"Yes, please," Kim said. "We heard about your break-in and we came by to ask you some questions about it. My name is Kim Possible and this is Ron and Shego," Kim said, indicating each one of them in turn.

"Ah, the famous Kim Possible! How nice to meet you," the man said. "I am Dr. Ara Bidopsis and I run the garden. Forgive me, but we already called the police on this matter and they assured us that they would have the miscreant in custody in short order. Has the case not been resolved?"

"No," Kim admitted. "They thought that Shego had been the one to rob you, but she had an alibi. We think that someone was trying to frame her, so we are here to see if we can gather any clues as to whom that might be."

"Ah, I see," Dr. Bidopsis said. "Well, the greenhouse is this way and you are welcome to take a look."

"Thanks," Kim replied and they followed him up the hill. The greenhouse they were looking for stood at the very top of the hill, and when they got there, they saw that is was still cordoned off with police tape. An inspection of the outside of the building showed that the door had been ripped off its hinges. Inside, scorch marks could be seen along the tables, support posts and several of the plants, and along those marks were copious amounts of law enforcement fingerprinting powder that revealed numerous sets of the same fingerprints.

Shego scowled when she saw all of the damage. "I never would have caused this kind of damage for a cream-puff job like this," she scoffed. "I would have just picked the lock, grabbed what I wanted and split. It would have been days before they even realized something was missing." Grumpy, she stalked over to one of the tables and lit up her right hand. Dr. Bidopsis took a step back in surprise, but she ignored him and used her right index finger to make a small mark in the wood. It looked very little like the rest of the marks, and even after subsequent tests with varying intensities of plasma, she could not get her marks to look the same as those already there. "Pfft," she sniffed. "Amateurs. They didn't even know what my scorch marks should look like."

"But it looks like the Lieutenant wasn't lying about the fingerprints," Kim put in.

"Yeah, but my guess is that they couldn't match them to anyone," Shego hypothesized. "I think this is all I wanted to see," Shego said to Kim. "You wanna hit the Space Center?"

"Might as well," Kim agreed. "Thank you for your help, Dr. Bidopsis."

"Not a problem, young lady," he said with a smile. They all left the greenhouse, and Dr. Bidopsis bid them farewell. "Please come back if you need anything else," he admonished them, giving them all a smile before he turned and shuffled off to see to the rest of his duties.

Shego looked after him, quirked an eyebrow and turned toward her car. Determined not to be in the back seat again, Kim yelled "Shotgun!" and bolted for the car. Shego glanced at her in amusement as she flew by and looked back to see if Stoppable was giving chase. He wasn't; in fact, he didn't even looked like he cared. Shego frowned. If she didn't know any better she could swear he was moping.

"Why the face, Stoppable?" she asked.

"It's nothing, SG," Ron replied dejectedly.

"Bullshit," Shego retorted. "What is it?"

"Everyone in Team Possible has been framed except for me! Even Rufus!" he pouted.

"Well, not everyone," Shego countered. "Wade isn't wanted yet."

"He stays in his room most of the time; he doesn't count," Ron sulked.

"Maybe," Shego allowed. She looked at Ron's downcast face, rolled her eyes and decided to fulfill her "nice" quota for the next few months. "I think they are just saving you for last, Stoppable," she told him with absolute conviction. "In fact, if we don't get a call today about another robbery and it doesn't have bits of you all over the place, then I will treat you to Bueno Nacho every day, every meal, for a week."

Ron perked up, both at Shego's prediction and at the mention of Bueno Nacho. "What happens if we do get a call?" he asked.

"You owe me five bucks and a week of no Bueno Nacho," Shego offered.

"You're on, SG," he said with a smile and ran to the car. Shego rolled her eyes, sighed, and wondered what in the hell had happened to her.

"Shego!" came Kim's bellow from the car. "Wade called about another robbery!"

"Well, at least I won't have to buy Bueno Nacho for a week," Shego muttered as she strolled back to the car. "Where now, Pink?" she asked as she got in.

"Middleton Equestrian Center and Stables," Kim answered. "Someone stole a cow."

Shego quirked an eyebrow. "A cow," she repeated.

"Yup," Kim confirmed. "And that's not all. The guy left a note this time."

"Really," Shego said. "And what did it say?"

"Wade said they didn't mention what is said," Kim replied. "They only said that it was signed 'Zorpox'." They looked at each other and then in the backseat.

"I have been with you guys the whole time! It wasn't me!" Ron protested, but Shego could hear the hint of pride in his voice.

"You owe me five bucks, Stoppable," she informed him as she revved up the car and peeled out the parking lot.


	6. Coming Out of the Nerd Closet

Chapter 6 – Coming Out of the Nerd Closet

"So why exactly do you owe Shego five bucks?" Kim asked Ron as they were walking from the parking lot to the main barn.

"Oh, well, I felt, I don't know, I guess a little short changed that I hadn't been framed yet," Ron answered sheepishly. "So SG bet me a week of Bueno Nacho that we would get another call today and that I would be the suspect. If I lost, I owed her five bucks and a week with no Bueno Nacho. It looks like she won, so I owe her five bucks."

"And no Bueno Nacho," Kim said, liking this bet quite a bit. She liked Bueno Nacho all right, but Ron's obsessive fascination with it made it a more frequent choice than she would have preferred.

"I know," Ron said wistfully. "It is going to be tough. I mean we will have to go to Mac Ronalds or El Hamburgesa del Rey or Clown in the Cube or Barby's…"

"Listing every not Bueno Nacho place in Middleton, Stoppable?" Shego interrupted.

Ron nodded. "Pretty much," he said amiably.

"How did you know we would get another call?" Kim asked interestedly.

"It is what a criminal would do, and in spite of your better efforts, I still think like one," Shego said dryly.

"Yeah, right," Kim pfft'ed. "That's why you went out of your way to cheer up Ron."

"He was pissy and whiny," Shego protested. "I had to shut him up somehow."

"Yeah, whatever," Kim sniffed. "I think someone is turning nice."

"Yeah, keep talking like that, Pumpkin, and I will show you 'nice'," Shego promised.

"Try it, Junior," Kim offered with a smile.

Ron could see where this was going and decided to forestall it by asking a question. "So, um, ladies, do we think that SG was right because she thinks like a criminal or do we think she was right because whoever is trying to frame her knows she thinks like a criminal and was trying to divert attention from his or her own criminal activities by exploiting SG's way of thinking and making it seem like she could be the one responsible, thus causing suspicion and perhaps division among the members of Team Possible?" he asked without taking a breath.

Kim and Shego forgot about their power struggle to stare at him, which had been Ron's objective all along. He could see the wheels turning in both heads as they mentally reviewed what he had said, decided it had made some sense and then considered the answer. "I don't know, Ron," Kim finally answered. "That's a good point, though."

"Thanks, KP," Ron replied, as they were approached by a dark-haired woman.

"Team Possible?" she inquired politely.

"Yes," Kim confirmed. "I am Kim Possible and this is Ron and Shego." Rufus coughed exaggeratedly from Ron's pocket. "And Rufus," she amended.

The woman smiled, apparently amused by Rufus' antics. "It is a pleasure to meet all of you," she said, smiling at each one of them in turn, including Rufus. "I just wish it could have been under more pleasant circumstances. My name is Yi Quine, and I am in charge of the stables around here."

"Did you guys really lose a cow?" Ron interjected incredulously before anyone else could say anything. Kim glared at him for his lack of tact.

"Yes," Yi replied sadly, not offended by the direct question. "Bev was our matron; she was by far the oldest cow we had here. She was sick and didn't have much longer. I really don't know who would want to steal her," Yi explained, her dismay, anger and sadness at the theft apparent in the tone of her voice.

"Could we see her stall?" Shego asked gently, not wanting to upset Yi further. People who hurt animals for no good reason pissed her off, and anyone who stole a sick cow had to be a dickhead. The sooner they could see the stall, the sooner they could start tracking said dickhead down.

"Of course, but there is something else you should probably see first," Yi said soberly. "There was an incident in the sheep pen as well."

"Another theft?" Kim asked.

"Worse," Yi replied. "Please, some this way."

Kim, Ron and Shego exchanged glances and quietly followed Yi out to the sheep paddock. Shego saw it first and scowled, alerting Kim who then followed the direction of her gaze. There, in the pasture, was something far worse than a stolen cow. It was a sheep, as one might expect in a sheep pasture, but unlike its grazing brethren, it was dead, its throat having been slit. Kim's eyes widened in surprise and Ron, having at last seen where they were both looking, blanched.

"Sherman didn't suffer, which I guess you could call a blessing," Yi said quietly. "Whoever it was that slit his throat did it quickly. They drained him of his blood, but they left the rest of him intact."

The three of them stood there for a few moments, Kim and Ron slightly shell shocked and Shego outright pissed. Kim put a hand on Shego's arm to empathize, and the ring on her finger began to glow softly. Her necklace followed suit and Kim at last noticed how warm Shego felt to the touch, even though no plasma was visible. Shego felt the gentle touch on her arm and in spite of her better effort to stay really pissed off, it calmed her considerably. Her body temperature, sanity and pissed-off levels returned to normal.

"Were there any clues?" she heard Kim asking.

"No. The only thing we had to go by is the note that the murdering thief left," Yi replied sourly.

"Hm," Kim mused. She looked at Ron, who still looked a little green from the sight of poor Sherman. "Ron, why don't you check out where Bev was and see if you can find any clues," she suggested.

"Sure thing, KP," Ron agreed wholeheartedly, eager to get out of that pasture. He looked around so he could get his bearings and get the hell out of there, but then realized he had no idea where he was going. "Um, could someone tell me where?" he asked.

"I'll take you," Yi volunteered. She turned to Kim. "I'll be back to help you," she said firmly.

"We would appreciate it," Kim answered, knowing that Yi probably felt pretty helpless right now and was looking for a way to do something. Yi smiled and escorted Ron in the direction of the stables.

Kim turned, looking for Shego, and found her, not looking at Sherman as she had expected, but gazing over the pasture opposite to where he had been discovered. Shego was frowning, no real surprise there, but the frown was sad, not grumpy. Kim continued to observe her silently, thinking that even though she had known Shego for a while now and had gotten to see that Shego was a person, and a dryly funny one at that, these little glimmers of her humanity always kind of shocked her because they showed that Shego actually did care about things and people other than herself. She walked over slowly and placed her hand on Shego's wrist. Shego turned and gave her a sad grin.

"Let's go find the bastard who did this, Princess," she offered.

"I'd love too," Kim answered sincerely.

They searched the field and did a thorough but not exhaustive examination on Sherman, quitting only when it began to get dark outside. They found nothing, which is what they were actually expecting, because every piece of evidence they had found on this little caper had not been real but had been planted. They hooked back up with Ron, but he too, had found nothing, and so after several hours of searching, they had nothing but the note which the sheep assassin had left behind, a note that they had known about before they had come to the stables. They bid Yi farewell, promised to contact her if they came up with anything and went back to the Mansion to attempt to puzzle out the clues they had been collecting.

They settled down in the parlor, and Shego sat down on the couch briefly before realizing it would not be a good place to sit if she wanted to focus on anything but having inappropriate daydreams about Kimmie. That couch tended to absorb scents readily and it had to have been where Kimmie slept last night. She took the wingback chair by the fireplace instead. Kim reclaimed her couch and Ron and Rufus sat on the loveseat that was adjacent to the couch.

"So who are we dealing with, guys?" Kim asked.

"Drakken," Shego stated.

"Drakken?" Kim echoed. "Do you really think he would kill anything?"

"I wouldn't have thought it, no," Shego admitted. "But, he has been known to take a wheelchair from a handicapped kid. And he is the only one besides the four of us who would get the Zorpox reference."

"Seriously, Drakken?" Ron asked echoing Kim's doubt.

"Yes, Drakken," Shego insisted. "Did either of you work for him for several years?"

"No, but we've been foiling him for the last several years," Kim countered.

Shego snorted in irritation. "Here, I'll prove it to you. Give me that note," she ordered. Kim shrugged and handed it over.

"To whom it may concern," Shego began. "Because Team Possible has taken my family away from me and has forced me to go solo…" Here she paused. "This is the first it's-the-blue-idiot clue. He always thought he and I were some sort of whacked-out family," she explained. "It's why he went to the cops after we hit the Field for the amulet."

"Ah, that's why he called the cops," Kim commented. "I have always wondered about that."

"Yeah, well, he's an idiot. What else can you say," Shego answered and then started to read again. "I have decided to not to take over the world, but to destroy it," she continued. "You have no one but yourselves to blame, Team Possible, and when the world lies dying they will thank you for it. I am truly saddened that the girl I had always hoped to marry has chosen another over me and am sorely disappointed in her deviant choice." Here Shego paused again. "This is where he is trying to be clever. He wants to make it seem like it is Ron talking about you, but he is actually trying to shame me and 'the deviant choice' is being on the good side."

Here Ron piped up and Kim and Shego both waited uneasily, not knowing what he was going to say and hoping that the innuendo that was not that far removed from the truth would skip right over his head.

"Drakken wanted to marry you?" he asked interestedly. "Were you guys like a couple?"

"No," Shego said flatly, quelling that line of thought instantly. "That's where he was trying to be you say something you might say. We were the last two people on earth that would ever hook up."

"Why?" Kim asked, her curiosity piqued.

"Well, for one, I think he is an idiot and for two, he is a classic closet case," Shego replied.

"Drakken is gay?" Ron asked in astonishment.

"Queer as a three-dollar bill," Shego quipped.

"Really," Ron said in amusement. "That is so just, I don't even know. Did you guys ever like the same guys? That would have been awkweird, I bet."

"Um, no," Shego said embarrassedly.

"You guys have a different type?" Ron persisted.

"You could say that," Shego said noncommittally. "So, uh, I think we should get back to the note."

"Yeah, let's," Kim agreed hurriedly.

Shego rattled off the last line. "You think you are all that but you are not, and I will prove it to you. Yours sincerely, Zorpox," she quoted. "A closer like that and you don't think it is Drakken?" Shego asked with a smirk.

"Okay, fine. When you read it like that it sounds like it does have to be Drakken," Kim admitted. "I just don't know, though. It seems way too obvious."

"Path of least resistance, Pumpkin," Shego advised, "Go with the easy way first."

Kim sighed. "All right; so it is Drakken. What is he up to?"

"Dunno," Shego admitted.

"Well, what has he stolen?" Kim asked. "Maybe if we organize it, it will start to make some sense." She activated her Kimmunicator. "Wade, could you give us a list of what has been stolen in the last few days?' she requested.

"Sure thing, Kim," Wade replied amiably. They could hear the clicking of keys as he typed, and within a few seconds, a printed sheet emerged from the top of the Kimmunicator.

"Thanks, Wade," Kim said. "I am going to keep the link active so you can join in."

"I'll be here and listening,' Wade assured her.

"Let's see," Kim began. "We have a plant, we have a propulsion device, we have hydrochloric acid, sodium hydroxide, vegan gelatin, sugar, salt, brewer's yeast, brewer's yeast extract, baking soda, caked soybean extract, vinegar, milk, a sick cow and um, sheep's blood," she finished, not wanting to include poor Sherman but feeling like she must.

"Ya know, if he had only hit the food plant, I would swear he was making some sort of sweet tofu dish," Ron commented. "I can't see where he could use the yeast, but he could be making something new and exciting." His stomach audibly growled at the thought of food, and everyone in the room heard it. "Think we could send out for some Chinese or something?" he asked hopefully.

"I do have some stuff, but it is mostly for sandwiches and since all the bread I ever buy usually ends up as fungi fodder, I doubt it's enough for dinner," Shego mused. "Sure, Stoppable, grab the phone book and see what you…" Here she stopped and fell silent, her brows contracting.

"See what I can what?" Ron asked, wanting to clarify.

Shego shook her head to clear it. "See what you can find us for dinner," she said distractedly, obviously still thinking. Ron grabbed the phone book underneath the phone and happily started flipping pages. "Nerdlinger, you still there?" Shego asked.

"Yup," Wade responded. "What do you need?"

"See if you can find another term for vegan gelatin," she requested, much to Kim's intrigue; she really had no idea what light had come on in Shego's head.

A few seconds passed and Wade had an answer. "It is also known as 'agar,'" he informed her.

"Agar," Shego repeated. "Damn, I haven't heard that term in years," she commented. "But that's what I thought and I have an idea of what the bastard is up to," she said.

"Care to share?" Kim asked, the tiniest bit peeved at being left out.

"He's trying to grow some sort of bacteria," Shego explained. "That is what everything with the exceptions of the plant, cow, sheep and propulsion thingy is for."

"And you think this why?" Kim prompted, needing to know the logic behind what seemed to be a way out there theory.

"Well, Stoppable was the one who made me think of it," Shego admitted. "When he asked for something to eat, I mentioned how all of my bread was 'fungi fodder'. That got me thinking about most of that stuff can be used in plates that bacteria are grown on. And when he called the caked soybean extract 'tofu', it made me realize that scientists and normal people have different names for things. That is why I asked about the gelatin. Agar is used to harden the plates so that crap can grow on them."

"And how do you know what bacteria are grown on?" Ron asked, having been distracted away from his food quest.

"Because there used to be a laboratory in the basement," a familiar, yet unexpected voice informed them, scaring them out of their wits. "Junior here was fascinated by it when she was younger, and I have a charming story about the time she got into the crystal violet," Mim explained further. She chuckled at their still astonished faces. "You all act as if you have never seen a ghost before," she teased.

"How do you do that?" Shego protested in frustration. "I can feel Nana Sheila the instant she enters the room. You always pop in and scare the shit out of us."

"I tend to be more of a finesse type of individual," Mim replied. "Sheila prefers to make the grand entrance." Shego rolled her eyes. "So what seems to be the mystery this time, ladies?" Mim politely inquired.

"Well, first there were a string of thefts around Middleton and we got this note that someone is planning on destroying the world," Kim answered. "Shego thinks that Drakken is behind it and that he is trying to grow some sort of bacteria."

"Drakken. You referring to Lipsky, correct?" Mim asked. Kim nodded. "Ah, I see. Well, what has been thieved?" Kim held up the list for her to read. Mim read it. "That is exactly what he is trying to do," she agreed. She indicated the food stuffs, the chemicals and the disturbingly, the sheep's blood. "These are all used to make bacterial media plates," she said.

"They make plates with sheep's blood?" Ron asked, a little creeped out by it.

"Of course," Mim replied. "It is an indicator. Some types of bacteria break open red blood cells and you can see it in the media. Normally, you are not required to kill a sheep to obtain it, though."

"The chemicals are used in the plates, too?" Kim asked.

"They are used to maintain the proper pH," Mim affirmed.

Kim frowned. It still seemed a little out there for her. "Why go to the trouble of stealing this stuff from all of these different places when he could have just hit a biology supply warehouse?" she asked.

"Maybe trying to shake us off the trail?" Ron offered. "It seems like a good plan: steal from a bunch of really weird places and hope it takes up forever to figure out a connection. That buys you time to do what you need to. We would have known even quicker if head hit some sort of biology supply place."

"True," Kim allowed. "Okay, so if it is Drakken, and if he is trying to grow bacteria, what is he trying to grow?" she threw the question out there for anyone to answer.

"Incoming," Shego muttered, and Kim gave her a questioning sideways glance. Within seconds, another ghostly white figure began to materialize in the room.

"I detest coming into a gathering late," Sheila sighed once she was whole. "One never knows what has been going on in her absence." She looked around the assembly. "So, what seems to be the situation?"

Kim looked at Shego and smiled, but didn't say a word. Shego glowered at her. "That's not 'What's the Sitch', Princess," she muttered.

"Sounded awfully like it to me," Kim murmured back. Shego sighed.

"The ladies and Ronald have stumbled upon what looks to be a biological weapon plot," Mim told her. "There is some question now, however, as to the identity of the microorganism to be used."

Sheila looked at the list. "I agree with the general consensus that he is attempting to make bacterial media." She looked at the rest of the items on the list. "And, if what he was after was the soil under the plant rather than the plant itself, then I would suspect that he is attempting to isolate Bacillus anthracis."

"I thought the same," Mim said, nodding. She shook her head. "That poor cow is not long for the world."

"Hold on a second," Shego ordered. "You think he is trying to culture anthrax?"

"Yes," Sheila said simply.

Shego looked at the list and then at her Nanas. She thought about it for a couple more seconds and then sighed. "Fuck," she said. "He is trying to culture anthrax." She looked at Kim, who was trying to keep a smile off of her face. "What, Pink?" Shego challenged.

"When exactly were you planning to come out of the nerd closet?" Kim ribbed her, her smile growing bigger.

"I came out because I had to, Pumpkin. Keep teasing me about it and I will tell Rockwaller that you were playing with DNA-in-a-box," Shego warned.

"You wouldn't," Kim stated, horrified.

"What was that saying I heard once? Something like 'I have a web site and I am not afraid to use it'?" Shego taunted.

"Okay, okay," Kim said, resigned. "We both get to stay in the nerd closet once this is over. But how did you guys know that he was trying to culture anthrax?"

"The dirt and the cow," Shego said succinctly.

"That's it?" Kim asked incredulously.

"Pretty much," Shego shrugged. "Anthrax hangs out in the dirt; cows eat the dirt when they eat their grass and then anthrax hangs out in their digestive tract. When the cows die, the anthrax starts to multiply. It's why people hurled dead cows over walls and shit in the Middle Ages."

Kim looked at her mildly, one eyebrow slightly raised. She wanted to say what she was thinking, but she knew it would get her into trouble so she demurred. Luckily, Ron said it for her.

"Wow, your nerd closet must be made of iron, because, dude, you are a flaming nerd," he laughed, knowing he was close to death but deciding to risk it anyway.

"Yeah, thanks for that, Stoppable," Shego said grumpily. Kim giggled. Mim and Sheila pretended that they weren't, but they pretty much were. "Anyway, you guys should be grateful; otherwise you would have been chasing your tails for months."

"Which is probably what Drakken was hoping for," Kim mused. "It is easy to get anthrax from the dirt?"

"Well, first you have to isolate Bacillus anthracis from the millions of other microorganisms in the soil, then the one you isolated has to have both pathogenicity islands, an event which is unbelievably rare. Then you would have to grow it up in great enough quantities to weaponize it and then you would have to disperse it," Mim explained.

"So in other words, no," Kim clarified.

"No," Shego agreed. "It would probably be a pain in the ass."

"But if we were going around in circles…" Kim began.

'Or if we were all in jail because the crap evidence he had planted all over town…" Ron continued.

"He would have all the time he needs to get his plan going," Shego finished.

"So when do we leave?" Kim asked, her face and eyes alight with the excitement of a world-saving mission.

"Tomorrow at noon?" Shego offered.

Kim frowned. "The world is at stake, Shego," she said. "Don't you think you could wake up early just this once?"

"It's not that," Shego said embarrassedly. "I have a midterm in English tomorrow and I would rather not miss it."

"Oh, sorry, I didn't realize," Kim apologized. "Yeah, afternoon should be fine; we seem to have some time built into this one. You okay with that, Ron?"

"Yeah, that's cool with me, KP," Ron answered. When no one spoke for a few minutes, Ron decided to take the opportunity. "So now that we have figured everything out, can we have some dinner?" he asked.

"Sure, why not," Shego said. "Order something."

"Um, how about Bueno Nacho?" Ron offered.

"We had a bet, Stoppable," Shego growled.

"Yeah, I know, SG, but technically, there was only the note at the crime scene and you couldn't really tie Zorpox to me."

Shego got up wordlessly and went out of the room for a few moments. When she came back, she flipped some pictures into Ron's lap. He looked at them and coughed. "So how does Chinese sound?" he asked hurriedly, retrieving the phone book and flipping pages.

Kim got up from the couch and took the pictures from him. As she expected, there was Zorpox in all of his red-tighted glory, and from the photographs, there was no doubt as to his identity. She glanced at Shego, who shrugged. "You never know when shit is going to come in handy," she said with a smirk. Kim shook her head and smiled back.

Ron did end up ordering Chinese food and the six of them spent the time chatting easily about everything and nothing. After a while, they started talking shop again and ironed out a few details about the following day, like when they were going to meet, and the fact that everyone should bring overnight stuff because they were going to hit the cabin for the night before they confronted Drakken the next day. The hours stretched on and after a while, Mim and Sheila excused themselves and faded out from view. Ron, too, decided he and Rufus should beat it, and followed soon after Mim and Sheila. Shego expected Kim to leave when Ron did, but to her mild surprise, Kimmie lagged behind.

"Something wrong, Princess?" Shego asked.

"Um, no," Kim lied.

"You suck at lying, Pumpkin," Shego stated tactlessly. "What is it?"

"I guess I am a little weirded out that Drakken was in my room, especially since we now think he is trying to culture anthrax," Kim admitted.

The fact that Kim, the girl who could do anything and was afraid of nothing, was uneasy made Shego instantly concerned. It must really have been bothering Kimmie for her to say anything. Shego thought briefly. "You could stay here tonight, Pink," she offered. "We have plenty of rooms so you could have a real bed, and you could boggart more of my clothing."

Kim was very tempted by the kind offer, but considering what she had gone through today, she preferred to go home. "Thanks, Shego," she answered, "but I would really like to sleep in my own bed and wear my own clothes."

Shego thought some more. "I could stay in your room with you," she suggested, not wild about being in the same room all alone with Kimmie for hours on end, but figuring that she had lived through worse torment.

"Um, no," Kim said hastily, the thought of being in the same room all alone with Shego sending her thoughts elsewhere and rattling her nerves far worse than the thought of Drakken. "It was just temporary. I'll be fine."

"If you say so, Princess," Shego said skeptically.

"I'll be fine," Kim repeated. She got up, stretched and headed for the door. "I'll see you tomorrow, Shego."

"See ya tomorrow, Pink," Shego replied. Kim left and Shego found herself dissatisfied. Kimmie was still obviously on edge and she did not like it. She thought about how she could help, and suddenly a good resolution presented itself. She went to her bedroom and grabbed what she had thought of, then took off down the stairs at a dead run.

Kim kept looking over her shoulder the entire way home, and breathed a sigh of relief when she finally made it. She went to her room, fished out her pajamas and started to undress when a knock at her window nearly frightened her to death. "Shego!" she yelped after she had opened the window. "What in the world are you doing out there? Trying to give me a heart attack?"

"Well, back in the day it would have saved me a lot of problems, but no," Shego quipped. "I brought you something." She held out what was in her right hand.

"What is it?" Kim asked, reaching out to take it. She retrieved the well-worn stuffed animal gently, looked it over and respectfully brought it up to her chest. She looked at Shego with an indescribable expression, and Shego suddenly found herself embarrassed.

"Well, um, I knew you were still a little spooked by what happened, and Mongkut, um was always a big comfort to me when, um, I was little, so I um, thought he might, um do the same for you," Shego said haltingly.

"Mongkut? Is that his name?" Kim asked.

"Um, yeah, he is a clouded leopard and they life in Thailand, so Nana Mim suggested the name," Shego replied.

"I love him, Shego. Thank you," Kim gushed, impulsively throwing her arms around Shego and hugging her tightly. Shego didn't move for several seconds, but slowly but surely, her arms went around Kim and she returned the hug. They stayed that way for a while, until their bodies awakened them to the reality of how close they were. Then they panicked.

Shego was the first to pull back, but she did so slowly and easily, trying not to betray the anxiety she was feeling by moving suddenly. Kim followed suit, but also very slowly, so that all their mutual separation afforded them was the chance to look one another in the eyes and share the same breath; the rest of their bodies remained tightly embraced.

Shego knew she had to get out of here and she had to get out of here now or she and Kimmie would cross a line that she wasn't sure she wanted to cross. She loosened her grip further on Kim and let her slip from her grasp, much to the disappointment of them both. Kim allowed herself to let go as well, wanting to take what she could see was right there but not feeling it was the right time.

"Night, Princess," Shego said, exiting out through the window.

"Good night, Shego," Kim replied. Still holding on to Mongkut, she shut the window. Shego gave one last wave of goodbye and then she disappeared. Kim watched her go and sighed. "You didn't exactly make my life easier," she informed her new stuffed leopard companion as she turned away from the window.

Down on the ground, Shego watched her retreat from the window. "Now why in the hell did I do that?" she grumbled as she made her way back home.


	7. Questions and Answers

Chapter 7 – Questions and Answers

Wednesday Afternoon – a quiet beach in Mexico

Shego let out a deep sigh of contentment as she felt the Mexican sun warm her back. She was exactly where she wanted to be: face down on the beach, drowsing slightly and soaking up enough solar energy to thoroughly kick a blue idiot's ass the following day. She hadn't been able to relax like this for quite a while, what with school and a bossy team leader to deal with, so it was a treat to be lying there doing nothing. She sighed again, ready to slip from drowsing into full-on nap when she felt movement on the sand beside her. She waited, and whoever it was promptly flopped herself beside her on the blanket. Knowing that Stoppable would never in a million years be that bold, she flipped over. "Hiya, Princess," she mumbled, not even bothering to open her eyes.

"Hey Shego," Kim answered. "Mind if I share your blanket?"

Shego cracked open one eye to see Kim settling herself more comfortably. "Yeah, like I have a choice," she muttered. "And what will you do if I say 'no'?" she challenged.

"Probably something like this," Kim offered, her eyes growing wide and her lip creeping out into a puppy-dog pout.

"All right, all right," Shego protested. "Put it away, Pink. You can stay."

"Thanks!" Kim replied perkily and settled down on the blanket. Shego sighed and closed her eyes, hoping that Kimmie would just lie still and be quiet. But it was not to be, for just a few moments later, Kim broke the silence by asking a question. "Um, Shego?" she asked. "How long have you been out here?"

"Couple hours, I guess," Shego mused. "Why?"

"Because you aren't burned or the least bit darker," Kim said. "I am so jealous. I can't even eat lunch outside sometimes without burning."

"Well, some of us got it and some of us don't, Pumpkin," Shego rejoined sleepily.

"Why do you wear a one piece suit?" Kim asked unexpectedly. "I mean, I've seen you in a two-piece evening gown, why not a two-piece bathing suit? Since I assume you don't burn because your skin does something with the energy, it seems like you could absorb more energy with more skin showing."

Shego's eyes remained closed, but her mind snapped to full attention as it tried to process and translate Kim's odd statement. After last night, Shego was fairly confident that something was brewing between her and Kimmie, but was Kimmie actually flirting? Or was she being her normal inquisitive self? Shego couldn't decide, and so didn't really know how to respond. "Um, I never really thought about it?" she answered tentatively, hoping that would work and give her some indication of the direction that Kimmie was taking this.

"Fair enough," Kim said reasonably, and Shego breathed a sigh of relief. She expected Kim to ask another question, but Kim remained blessedly silent. They lapsed into companionable silence and Shego found herself beginning to doze off once again. She had almost dropped off completely when, once again, a charmingly annoying voice cut through the silence. "Hey Shego?" Kim piped up.

"What now, Princess?" Shego muttered exasperatedly.

"You were like seven when Mim and Sheila died, weren't you?" Kim asked innocently.

Shego's eyebrow rose as another oddball question came zooming out of the wild blue yonder. "Um, yeah, I was. Why?" she asked suspiciously, not liking that look of innocence.

"Well, I was wondering how a kid younger than seven could even understand some pretty detailed microbiology much less remember it fifteen years later," Kim said, the look of innocence melting into a cheeky grin.

"Shit. Busted," Shego thought. She looked at Kim, whose smile got wider and wider the longer she took to respond. "You are too damn smart for your own damn good, Pink," she grumbled morosely. "Okay, so I admit it: I know more about microbiology than I should know for being an apathetic former villain," she admitted. "But Nana Mim was right; I was fascinated by their lab when I was younger, and when I got to high school and took biology, I realized that I still liked it a lot. So, I have taken a few classes here and there. It doesn't make me a nerd," she concluded defensively.

"Well, maybe not," Kim allowed, "but from what I see you are good at it. And as soon as I tell my parents you are good at it, you are headed for a four-year college and maybe even grad school," Kim informed her.

"You wouldn't," Shego declared, then looked at Kim's face. "Scratch that. You would." Kim smiled and Shego glared at her. "Don't get too smug, Pumpkin," she warned. "Threats aside, I did catch you playing at the N-Bohrium. Looks like Cheerleader has a few secrets of her own."

Kim blushed. "Maybe one or two," she admitted with a self-effacing smile, knowing that one of those secrets had lured her out to the beach when she should have stayed inside the cabin with Ron. But she hadn't and now she was out here, knowing why she was out there but doing an awful job of being out here. She could hardly believe she had actually suggested to Shego that she show more skin. She hadn't meant it like that, and didn't realize how it would sound until after it had come out of her mouth. Luckily for her, Shego gave one of her typical blasé responses and Kim figured she had escaped. Calling Shego on her I-remembered-this-from-way-back bluff had been intentional, however. Kim had done the math, and it didn't make sense for a toddler to know so much about microbiology, lab in the basement or no. And she had gotten her answer, she thought proudly. But now silence hung between them, and after spending most of the last two nights discussing her feelings for Shego with both herself and her deceased confidante, she felt like she needed to fill it. Talking about what happened between them last night would fill the void quite nicely.

"So what's the story with Mongkut?" Kim asked, figuring that was as logical as any place to start. "Was he your protection against the big, scary Mansion?"

Shego cracked a grin and sat up, obviously amused by the question and interested enough in it to give up any further lounging. "It was the opposite, actually," she said, a wistful smirk on her face. "Mongkut was my protection against leaving the Mansion. When I was little, Nana Mim and Nana Sheila had a clouded leopard named Rama and he and I were best buds. He would follow me everywhere, he slept in my bed and basically together we got into as much trouble as we could. Well, anyway, Nana Mim and Nana Sheila knew I was going to miss him when I left for Chicago, so they had a stuffed animal version custom made for me and gave me Mongkut just before I left that summer. I have pretty much had him ever since."

"Aunt Mim and Aunt Sheila let you play with a real, live leopard?" Kim asked, amazed and a little jealous.

"Yeah, pretty much," Shego admitted. "And when I couldn't have Rama, I had Mongkut."

Kim thought about that for a moment. "And last night, you gave him to me," she stated, her eyebrow quirking as she gazed at Shego

"Well, more liked loaned him to you," Shego clarified hastily.

"Yeah, you are loaning him to me," Kim said skeptically amused. "Just like you are 'loaning' me the amulet, which, as I have learned, was given to you by Aunt Mim, who told you could only give to someone who you loved very, very much." Shego was stunned speechless; if what she was trying to say hadn't been so important and serious, Kim would have been tempted to laugh at Shego's expression. Instead, she scooted closer to Shego, who regained some of her composure but not all. When Shego did not back away, Kim inched closer and closer, testing the waters. Still Shego did not pull away, so Kim conjured up her courage, leaned forward, and kissed Shego softly on the lips.

Shego leaned into the kiss. She had seen it coming from at least four miles away, and she knew she should pull back, but the plain truth was she didn't want to. She wanted to kiss Kimmie and she had wanted to since their first battle over the nano-tick. Kim's lips were soft and sweet, and even after thinking about it for longer than Shego was comfortable admitting to, the kiss was better than she had anticipated. And with her body's reaction, Shego knew she could throw whatever doubts she may have had that she wasn't really attracted to Kimmie right out the window.

Kim, too, was realizing that her attraction to Shego was no longer in doubt, for though she had instigated the kiss, a few seconds in she knew she wasn't really prepared for it. She thought she was; she had kissed Josh Mankey on several occasions and she and Ron kissed frequently. This was different though. Kissing Josh had never done much but make her proud that she was now old enough to be kissing a boy. Kissing Ron had moved past the pride, and when they kissed, she felt loved and secure. But kissing Shego was something altogether different and it made things happen in her mind and in her body that kissing Ron had never even come close to. This, Kim realized, was what being truly attracted to someone felt like. She wanted to do more than kiss, and it was a first for her.

The kiss was long and deep and even as they could feel it hastening toward its end, neither girl wanted it to. It was only after several long minutes that environmental awareness broke through and they realized that they were out in plain view doing something that could hurt a person that they both cared for. That thought caused them to slowly separate and they parted, Kim settling back on her heels as she looked at Shego sitting cross-legged before her.

Shego was the first to speak, and when the words came out, they were not what Kim had expected to hear. "Why did you do that, Princess?" Shego asked wistfully. "You have to know that it will do nothing but fuck everything up."

Kim shrugged; she wasn't sorry for what had just happened, even with Shego's seeming disapproval. "I was curious," she answered truthfully.

"Curious," Shego repeated incredulously.

"Yeah, curious," Kim confirmed. "I have heard from a few places that I was acting like I had a crush on you. After last night, I kinda had to start agreeing with them, and after the last five minutes, I know they were right. I do have a crush on you."

Shego didn't respond but just sat there, looking at Kim silently. She was warring with herself; a part of her wanted to believe Kimmie and wanted to believe that they had some sort of maybe potential future together. The other part, however, was calling on her to be practical, and that side, at least for the moment, won out. "You don't have a crush on me, Pumpkin," she sighed.

Kim saw the war going on behind Shego's eyes and decided not to be angry with her for being so presumptive. "Why do you think so?" she asked gently.

"Because I've seen it before," Shego stated flatly. "You think you have a crush on me, so we'll date for a while, and then you'll have the big, dramatic coming out party with your parents and with the public, at which point I will be forever memorialized as the girl who turned the great Kim Possible gay. Then, after about six months, you'll decide that this is an experiment that you are tired of and you'll end it, telling everyone that I tricked you into it somehow and that now you are going to come back to right side and bat for the het team."

Kim looked at her, her mind clicking all of the puzzle pieces together in an instant the way minds in her family tended to do. Shego had probably thought of a scenario where the two of them were together and coupled that with memories of a previous bad relationship, causing her to shy away. Or at least that was Kim's theory. So, armed with this theory, teenage hubris, and some really good advice she had gotten recently, she decided to speak her mind. "I like you a lot, Shego, and I really want to have a relationship with you," she said honestly. "And while it may happen that some time in the way future we decide to split up, so be it; I don't care about that right now. All I know is that there is this person that I cannot get out of my head, a person that I want to get to know better, and I want to see if maybe after a few movies, dinners and a dance or two, that person and I might decide that we like being with each other and we want to do more of it."

"When did teenagers suddenly become the voice of reason?" Shego muttered. Kim overheard and smiled.

"When someone reminds them that they are just teenagers," she replied, with a smile. "So, dinner, movie, me, you, Friday night?" she asked with an impish smile. "I would ask you for tomorrow, but we have a mission tomorrow."

Shego smiled and against her better judgment said yes. "All right, Pumpkin," she acquiesced. "Friday night sounds nice."

Kim's face lit up and she leaned forward, impulsively kissing Shego for the second time. Unable to stop herself, Shego kissed her back, only to pull back suddenly when a thought crossed her mind. "We can't do Friday, Pink," she said regretfully. "What about Stoppable?"

Kim didn't answer immediately, but instead smiled at Shego with a touched expression. That was a weird reaction, Shego thought, somewhat alarmed. Seeing she was freaking Shego out, Kim explained. "I am not smiling at the thought of hurting Ron," she clarified. "And this is all something that I will have to work out with him. What I am smiling at is that you brought him up. You really do care about him, don't you, Shego?"

Shego grimaced. This was the third damn time that Kimmie had busted her in one damn conversation. First it was the nerd classes, then it was the amulet, and now it was Stoppable. She would have no evil reputation left by the time this damn thing was over.

Shego didn't answer and Kim knew she had got her once again. She chuckled and deciding to be a real pain in the butt, retrieved her Kimmunicator from the back pocket of her shorts and flipped it on.

"What are you doing, Pumpkin?" Shego asked suspiciously.

"Calling Wade to update your bio on the website. We need to add a line or something telling everyone how nice you are nowadays," Kim taunted.

"Hey Kim," came Wade's voice, and Shego decided to act.

"Gimme that thing," she ordered Kim. Kim laughed. "I'm serious, Princess. Give it or you are going to regret it."

"Do your best, Junior," Kim challenged playfully, holding the Kimmunicator just beyond Shego's reach. Shego growled and sprung up from her sitting position, intent on pouncing on Kim. Kim anticipated her move and rolled out of the way, causing Shego to flop ungracefully on the blanket. Kim chuckled uncharitably, further irritating Shego, who took a deep breath, settled her anger and her hormones down and went after Kim in a professional manner.

Shego's tackle connected this time, sending Kim to the sand and knocking the Kimmunicator out of her hand. Shego gave a shout of triumph and dove after it. Kim grabbed her ankles and pulled her back into the fray. They grappled for a few minutes more until Shego finally broke Kim's hold and made another lunge for the Kimmunicator. She succeeded this time, and not content with keeping it out of Kim's reach, launched it skyward and sent a plasma blast after it, causing it to explode in midair. Satisfied and feeling smug, Shego put her hands behind her head and watched the little burning pieces fall to earth.

Kim watched them too, her mouth agape. She hadn't actually expected for Shego to blow up the Kimmunicator. Take it from her, yes. Blow it up, no. Good thing she had a Plan B, though. She activated Shego's wrist kimmunicator. "Hey Wade?" she inquired.

"Yeah, Kim?" Wade answered.

"I would start making two more wrist kimmunicators," she informed him, noticing that Shego had realized that something was missing off her wrist. "Bye, Wade," she signed off. "Missing something?" she teased, waving the kimmunicator she had surreptitiously removed while they were wrestling at Shego. Shego glared at her and Kim laughed once more, pocketing the kimmunicator before taking off at a dead run down the beach.

Shego gave chase. She wasn't really pissed, but she had to at least pretend she was. Kim tried to fool her by stopping suddenly and flipping over her head, but Shego didn't fall for it and the unnecessary move allowed Shego to catch up with Kim and tackle her to the ground. "This is mine," she informed Kim, pulling her kimmunicator of Kim's pocket. Kim struggled, but Shego's grip was tight, and with Kim still pinned, Shego put her kimmunicator back on. She then leaned down until her face was mere centimeters away from Kimmie's. "It looks like you lost this time, Princess," she purred, a smug smirk firmly in place.

"Maybe," Kim allowed sullenly before her own smug smile spread across her face. "I might have lost this battle, Junior, but I am winning the war," she declared confidently.

"I wouldn't be so sure, Pumpkin," Shego warned her. "We might have a date for Friday night, but I have a few tricks up my sleeve."

"Like what?" Kim goaded her, unable to resist.

"Like this," Shego replied, crossing the minuscule distance between them and kissing Kim thoroughly on the lips. Kim responded in kind, and they stayed like that for a good while, blissfully unaware that they were being watched through the back porch window of the cabin.

Ron watched them from where he stood. He had been there for quite a while, the loud "BOOM!" of the Kimmunicator exploding having drawn him back here from the front room. He looked down at Rufus, who was also watching them from his usual pocket hideout. "'Bout time they figured it out, right, Rufus?" he asked the mole rat as Rufus climbed on his shoulder.

"Uh-huh," Rufus replied, nodding.

Ron knew he should be angry, or at the very least, upset, but in reality he wasn't, for though he maintained a carefully constructed image as a buffoonish sidekick, he was actually quite smart and observant. He had known that what he was now seeing on the beach was going to happen sooner or later and he had been doing some reading up on the subject. He was a little sad, of course, but regardless of whether they were dating or not, Kim was his best friend, and all he really wanted was to see her happy. Although he would have preferred to be the one to make her happy, he had no problems relinquishing that to SG if that is what KP really wanted, especially since SG turned out to be a far cooler person than he thought she was. So, in his mind, there were really only a few things to do: 1) tell Kim that he still loved her and they were still best friends, 2) tell her that he was okay with her being gay and that he would stand by her, and 3) tell her that he was gonna tease her for a while about kissing Shego in broad daylight on the beach.

"So what do you say, Rufus? Should we go outside and tease them mercilessly?" he asked.

"Nuh-uh," Rufus replied, shaking his head.

"Why not?" Ron asked, in disappointment.

"Dead!" Rufus exclaimed, raising his fist along the side of his neck and head in a noose-tightening imitation.

"Oh, they wouldn't kill us," Ron assured him. Rufus didn't look convinced. "Okay. If they come toward us, we run," Ron offered. Rufus thought it over.

"Okay," he agreed and climbed back into Ron's pocket. Ron quietly opened the back door and made his way down to the beach.


	8. Taken by Surprise

Chapter 8 – Taken by Surprise

The mind was a funny thing, Kim mused. First off, she was lying here thinking that the mind was a funny thing when the rest of herself was occupied with the presence of a warm body on top of hers, which, ironically, was what had got her to thinking that the mind was a funny thing to begin with.

But, anyway, the thought that has sent Kim's mind on this tangent when the rest of her could have cared less was the thought that she had been way too judgmental of Mim when Mim had related the story of her meeting with Sheila in the parlor. At the time, Kim had thought it odd and a little impulsive that Mim had been willing to jump into the physical with Sheila. True, Mim and Sheila had, at this point, known each other for two years, had spent the last year in love with one another and were considered to be adults in their time, but Kim was still a little disappointed that Mim would cave so easily. Now, though, faced with much the same situation, Kim found herself completely empathizing with Mim and completely agreeing with her decision. Kim panicked as she realized that Mim had only been thwarted in her quest because clothing and distance to privacy had interfered. Shego was only wearing a bathing suit, and though being on beach did make privacy an issue, the cabin was but a thirty-second walk away.

Ron crept slowly along in the sand, hunkering down as best he could. The sand provided little cover and he was hoping for the element of surprise. He was still undecided on his plan; dunking them with seawater seemed like a good thought, but getting down to the water, making it back with a full bucket and dumping it on them without being seen seemed highly unlikely. And if he was seen, he would probably wind up murdered before he even completed his prank, and that would just suck in its entirety. So, seawater was out.

Next, he thought about sand. It would be easy to get, seeing as he was currently creeping through it. He thought about it for a second and then decided against it. Sand might make them mad and he really just wanted to embarrass and surprise them. He thought of a few more things, but all of them seemed too harsh. Finally after creeping closer and closer, he stumbled on an idea. He grinned. The classics were always the best.

Completely unaware that she and the inexplicably distracted person she was kissing were about to be ambushed by a stealthily moving sidekick, Shego continued her meticulous survey of Kim's lips. Her brain had stopped coherently functioning a while back, but the few synapses that were still firing here and there had decided that this had to be some sort of hallucination brought on by too much sun, lack of sleep or something like that, because it was never supposed to happen, like winning the lotto or like Drakken succeeding with one of his dumbass schemes. It was nothing more than a hazy fantasy, or so Shego's mind tried to convince her even as her body told her otherwise. It wasn't until she heard the chanting of a familiar refrain that her mind started thinking it might actually be real. When the refrain repeated itself, she had come out of her trance even more, and this time she could hear the following words:

"Kim and Shego, sitting on the beach,

"K-I-S-S-I-N, um, Geech

"First comes love, then comes dating

"Then comes unrestricted procreating."

She opened her eyes, and from the look of the face below her, Kimmie could hear it too, apparently. The mood dissolved in an instant and she cracked up, her whole body shaking with laughter as she flipped over onto the blanket.

Kim was not nearly as amused. She was mortified, actually, and her bright red face gave testimony to that. The only saving grace she could decipher was that Ron didn't appear to be upset; or at least if he was, he was doing a darn fine job of hiding it. She opened her eyes slowly to see Ron grinning at her from above.

"So anything you wanna tell me, KP?" he asked, as a slyly mischievous grin spread on his face.

"Um, maybe one or two things," Kim said sheepishly. Her face still burning with embarrassment, but at least she was starting to see the humor in it.

"Uh, I just remembered something that I needed from the house," Shego said hurriedly, jumping to her feet. It seemed like things were going to be amicable, but if there was going to be boyfriend/girlfriend/best friend/straight/gay angst in the offing, she was getting the hell out of here, bravery be damned. Kimmie could kick her ass for it later if she wanted.

Ron settled himself down on the blanket beside Kim, as Kim enviously watched Shego retreat. She was grateful that Shego had left because it would make things a little less complicated, but she really really wished she could join her. She glanced over at Ron nervously, but in spite of the awkweirdness of the situation, he had his normal grin on his face and was only looking at her with mild anticipation. Kim sighed softly, took a deep breath and said the first thing that came to her mind. "I'm sorry, Ron," she said softly. "You shouldn't have found out like this."

"Found out what?" Ron asked. "That you have a thing for SG? Dude, that is so old news."

Kim looked at him, her eyebrow rising slightly at his obvious confidence in his last statement. "How did you know I had a 'thing' for Shego when I only realized it myself a couple of days ago?" she asked, perplexed.

"Because you, while being one of the smartest people I have ever met, are amazingly oblivious when it comes to some things," Ron stated bluntly. Kim glared at him. "What, KP? I had to tell you that I had a crush on you when it was obvious I had a crush on you for at least a year," he pointed out.

"Okay, fine," Kim relented. "But this is my crush we're talking about. Shouldn't I have been the first to know?" Ron looked at her with a raised eyebrow of his own. Kim sighed. Apparently Monique and Bonnie weren't the only ones to have figured a few things out before she did. "When did you know?" she asked plaintively.

"Well, you have been acting weird ever since she became a member of the team," Ron explained. "It took me a while to figure out, but then I realized that you were acting like you had with Mankey and Eric the synthrdrone and all the rest that have popped up on the radar over the years. And then it all made sense."

"What, that I had a crush on Shego?" Kim asked.

"Yeah, and that you had a crush on her from way back," Ron agreed. Kim looked at him in disbelief. "Like bug guy way back," he clarified.

"I have not had a crush on Shego since the beginning," Kim protested.

"Well, if you look at the evidence, KP, well, yeah, you kinda did," Ron disagreed. "I mean, even before all this, it was pretty evident that she was the one villain that got under your skin."

"She and Drakken were the ones we fought the most," Kim pointed out. "It is natural that she would be a…a preoccupation."

"Yeah, except that Drakken never seemed to be part of your concern," Ron countered, a teasing grin on his face.

"Well, he was never skilled enough to pull anything off," Kim said hastily. "I mean, if she was ever motivated, Shego might have been able to take over the world."

"True, she might be able to," Ron conceded. "But as far as we know, she has never tried. And she has never tried because she was into you."

"And how do you know that?" Kim said

"She was kissing you on the beach?" Ron joked. Kim gave him a look and he chuckled unrepentantly. "I have a lot of opportunity to see stuff when I am running for my life, KP, and put into the right context, things can pop out."

"Like?" Kim prompted.

"Like the picture of Shego in your locker that never seemed to go away, even if she was in jail or became a member of the team," Ron jibed.

"I just never got around to changing it," Kim muttered.

"Yeah, except that the picture of Drakken would disappear and reappear at times, so it wasn't like it was forgotten space," Ron deftly pointed out. Kim didn't say anything, and Ron grinned. "And there was the way you would get pissy if we hadn't fought them in a while, the way you would always pair up with Shego if we were forced to work with them, the way you would roll around on the ground with her oblivious to anything around you, the rapport you always seemed to have with her even when you guys were fighting…"

"All right, all right," Kim interrupted grumpily, cutting him off. "I get it." She sighed and looked over at him. "So you seem to be taking all of this really well," she commented.

"I kinda figured it out a while ago, so I've had a while to think about it," Ron confessed. "And I have been reading about a guy in my situation and what he thought of it, and that has helped a lot too."

"What have you been reading?" Kim asked, curious.

"My great-great Uncle Jonathan's journal," Ron replied, surprising Kim, who thought that it had been part of the dream but nothing else. "I started looking for it after Mim and Sheila popped up, and I found it a couple of weeks ago. He didn't write as much as Mim, but he wrote about the important stuff. It was nice to read that I wasn't the only Stoppable that had been dumped by a Possible for a Goshen."

Kim winced. Ron was being extremely nice about everything, all things considered, but the guilt that had been nagging her along the edges ramped up into a suddenly crushing intensity. "I'm sorry, Ron," she repeated for the second time. "I never meant to hurt you. It just happened and, and I'm…"

Ron cut her off by turning toward her and grabbing her hands. "Stop with all the drama, Kim," he ordered gently. "I'm a little sad that you aren't going to be my girlfriend anymore, but I am not pissed off or anything else about you choosing Shego. You are still my best friend and you are always going to be my best friend even if we are not together romantically."

"How can you be so reasonable?" Kim demanded, tears threatening to spring up. "Shouldn't you be calling me names and stomping off in a huff or something?"

"And why would I do that?" Ron asked, honestly puzzled. "Why would I want to lose by the best friend I have had since I was four by throwing a fit about something no one really has any control over?" The mischievous grin came back and improved Kim's mood considerably. "Unless I was so bad as a boyfriend that I turned you gay," he teased.

"You didn't turn me gay," Kim confirmed, a begrudging smile starting to form. Ron really was okay with this, it seemed. But there was one thing more that she wanted to know. "But are you okay with me being gay?" she asked.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Ron asked, again a little puzzled. "It actually helps out the old ego, because if you like girls, KP, there isn't much I can do about that. If you had let me for another guy, then it means I wasn't good enough. Besides," he concluded, shrugging, "lesbians are hot."

Kim rolled her eyes. Ron was a seventeen-year old boy after all. "Well, I am glad you think so, Ron," she replied, a wry smile on her face. She reached over and hugged him tight. "Thanks for everything, Ron," she said.

"I wouldn't think of doing anything else," Ron replied sincerely, hugging her back. "But you know I am going to tease you for years about catching you guys on the beach," he informed her cheekily.

"I wouldn't expect anything else," Kim assured him with a good-natured grin.

Kimmie was smiling and Stoppable was smiling. This was a good development, Shego thought as she stood at the window watching them as waited for her call to go through. Stoppable seemed to be okay with everything, and that was a relief, even though it shouldn't have been a relief because villains like her weren't supposed to care about other people's feelings. But her villain cover had been blown at least three times this afternoon already, so it wasn't that big of a shock. A pleasant voice answered on the other line, drawing her thoughts back to her task, and Shego told her what she was after. The woman put her on hold to confer with her superiors and then, after a few minutes wait, got back on the line. Friday at eight would be fine, she informed Shego. Shego grinned, thanked her and cut off the connection, happy that her first choice for her and Kimmie's first date was available. It was going to be so much better than going to some crappy movie. She flipped her cell phone on to the couch and was about to join it when she noticed some strange activity along the horizon. She stared at it for a few seconds and her instincts signaled a warning. She grabbed the binoculars by the window, their presence there an artifact from the days when this was a villain's pad, and used them to scan the horizon.

They were still fairly far away, but Shego could make out at least 2 helicopters and a couple of jets. Shego growled under her breath; she had a hunch that the jets would be the same type that had ambushed her and Kimmie during their flight lesson, but they were still too far away to tell. If it was them, though, they weren't here to exchange pleasantries. They were probably here to either kidnap them or assassinate them. Shego paused for a moment, thinking, before breaking out into a smirk. Good thing hell would freeze over before they managed to find their way through the myriad passages and booby traps that had kept Shego safe from intruders and law enforcement whenever she came here. The cabin might have been simple, but the area around and below it certainly was not.

Take the underground bunker for instance. Shego had designed it to hide her vehicles while she was at the cabin, and it was now doing its job by hiding the jet that they had come in, leaving one less clue for anyone looking for them to follow. Shego glanced out the window. Three big clues were still sitting outside, however and Shego opened the back door to get Kimmie, Stoppable and the mole rat off that open beach.

"Princess, Stoppable!" she barked. "We got company. Grab the blanket and the mole rat and get over here!" Kim and Ron looked up of her voice, and shared a glance, but did as they were told, popping up off the blanket, grabbing it and making their way towards Shego.

"What's up, Shego?" Kim asked when they arrived.

"We have helicopters and jets coming in," Shego answered, pointing in their general direction. "I can't say for sure, but it looks like the same type we saw before."

"Are we going to engage them?" Kim asked, and Shego raised an eyebrow.

"Engage them? What, you going all military on me, Pink?" Shego teased. Kim glared at her. "We lack the capacity to engage them at this time, General," Shego answered in her best military affectation. "Our aerial resources do not have the firepower required, Sir."

"I know the jet doesn't have weapons," Kim said in exasperation. "I was wondering if we just wanted to go up and do what we did before."

"Eh, I'd prefer not to skydive without a parachute again, if you don't mind, Pumpkin," Shego replied. "Besides, that would ruin what little element of surprise we have. I think we should just hide and see what they do when we get here." She smirked, seeing an opportunity to tease. "I mean we should commence with covert operations to determine the enemy's plan of attack, Sir."

"Cut it out," Kim ordered crossly.

"Make me," Shego offered, grinning.

"Well, it's good to see that nothing's changed," Ron muttered to Rufus, rolling his eyes. Involved or no, those two would bicker until the grave, and if Mim and Sheila were any indication, even that wouldn't stop it.

"So where are we hiding?" Kim asked, abruptly changing the subject. "In the cabin?"

"Nope," Shego answered. "That's what the hideout is for."

"Hideout?" Kim questioned.

"Well, I know you have a problem with this, Princess, but I used to be a bad guy," Shego said, smirking. "I had to run from the cops, and when I ran here, I didn't want them to know this was my place."

"So you had a hideout," Kim said, ignoring the sarcasm. "Where is it?"

"We'll go there in a sec," Shego said. "I am going to go inside and change. If we do end up having to fight someone or something, I would prefer not to do it in my bathing suit." Kim's eyebrow quirked slightly and she blushed a bit, but she did not say anything. Shego didn't say anything either, but she definitely noticed the gesture. It intrigued her to say the least.

She disappeared into the house for a couple of minutes and came back clothed in black shorts and a green tank top. She led Kim, Ron and Rufus to the back of the house and proceeded to climb the tree that was nearest to the back door. Kim shrugged and followed suit and soon found herself on a platform that, while well hidden in the foliage of the trees that bordered the beach and cabin, afforded an excellent view of each. "This is nice," she told Shego.

"Oh, this is not the real hideout," Shego said. "This is the lookout." She pointed upwards. "That is the hideout," she told them, and Kim looked up to see a well-camouflaged building hiding in the upper branches. "This whole tree is hollow," Shego further explained. "The trunk goes all of the way into the ground and there is another tunnel that leads, in a roundabout way, back to the cabin." Kim was impressed; she really hadn't known that there was anything but a small cabin on the beach and the parking garage under the sand.

Shego looked over the railing on the platform to where Ron was looking for a place to ascend. "Hold on, Stoppable," she ordered. She flipped up a round cover in the middle of the platform to expose a ladder. She climbed down and popped the hidden hatch, allowing Ron to use the ladder to climb the tree instead of taking the same route she and Kimmie had.

"Now what?" Kim asked.

"Now we wait and see what they do," Shego replied.

They didn't have to wait long; all of the aircraft coming towards them were coming at a good rate of speed, and one of the helicopters made it to the beach within minutes. It hovered there for a few seconds and a zip line descended. A henchman slid down and began poking around the beach, turning over the sand here and there until he found something in the sand, examined and pocketed it. He looked around some more, scanning carefully, but they were well hidden and he couldn't see anything beyond the house. He grabbed the line and tugged, causing whoever was in the helicopter to reel him back in.

"I can't believe I was so stupid," Shego grumbled.

"Why? What did he pick up?" Ron asked.

"Part of the damn Kimmunicator, doy," she said impatiently. "That's exactly where I blew it up. It must have had a tracking device in it."

"So, they know we are here," Kim said.

"Well, they know the Kimmunicator was here," Shego confirmed. "But they can't be sure that we were. For all they know, we could have discovered the tracking device, blown it up and thrown it out the window."

"But it will at least give them the heads up that we probably aren't in jail like they hoped we would be," Kim pointed out.

"Yup," Shego replied. All four of them sighed shortly, annoyed that their element of surprise had gone out the window. The scout team only stayed a few minutes more; both of the helicopters scouted the beach and the two jets flew by both the beach and the forest, but due to Shego's skill, they found nothing and soon flew away. When they were sure they were gone, they climbed out of the tree and made their way back to the cabin.

"What if it is a trap?" Kim asked, giving voice to the thought that was on everyone's mind.

"Then we kick their asses and fight our way out," Shego suggested.

"Hm," Kim replied.

The four of them thought some more. "What if it is a trap trap?" Ron piped up. "So, they know that we know and are planning on us knowing and are setting a trap to the trap."

"You had to bring that up, didn't you, Stoppable?" Shego muttered.

"I guess we'll find out when we get there, Ron," Kim decided and in pensive silence, they walked back to the cabin.


	9. Springing the Trap

Chapter 9 – Springing the Trap

"Could you check the coordinates again, Wade?" Kim requested through the COM link. "We should be here, but we don't see anything and we want to make sure before we go diving."

"Figures he would put another damn lair underwater," Shego grumbled. "Idiot always had a fascination with underwater lairs." Kim raised an eyebrow; someone seemed a little grumpier than usual this morning. Then again, maybe she was getting used to the non-grumpy version. "I am not grumpy, Pink," Shego insisted grumpily, noticing the pointed look. Shego noticed her tone and sighed. She was being grumpy and she wasn't quite sure why. Maybe it was a consequence of the crappy sleep the lookout provided; she had banished herself outdoors so she wasn't tempted to share Kimmie's bed and as a result had spent yet another night at the cabin on the floor.

Wade's voice cut through on the COM. "That's the place, Kim," he confirmed.

"Do a tech scan, Nerdlinger, and see what you find," Shego requested.

Wade did as he was asked. "There is a large underground complex about thirty meters down," he informed them.

"Of course there is," Shego griped.

Kim grinned, finding the grumpy really funny. "Get over it and put on your SCUBA gear, Junior," she ordered good-naturedly.

"Bossy team leaders," Shego complained, but Kim's good mood started to counteract her sour one. All four of them quickly got into their wetsuits; they had worn bathing suits underneath their clothing in anticipation of having to do this very thing and it was just a matter of stripping off the mission clothes and tugging on the wetsuit. Shego went to the controls and programmed the plane to hover a few feet above the water for five minutes before it was to shut the side door and return to the cabin. She glanced at Kim, Ron and Rufus, all of whom seemed to be ready.

Kim opened the side door. "Let's go everyone," she prompted. Shego, after saluting sarcastically, was the first to jump, landing in the water with a splash. Ron and Rufus followed and Kim joined them after they had gotten out of the way. They all adjusted their gear and dove, swimming steadily downward until a huge building came into view.

They started scanning the walls looking for an access point. Ron found one first and gave the thumbs-up, causing Kim and Shego to swim over. Kim retrieved her laser welder and started on one side of the grate while Shego lit up and started on the other. They had the cover off in short order and they all swam through the opening and down the pipe, stopping when they came to an underwater chamber that a pipe leading upwards and a pipe continuing the way they came.

Kim and Shego looked at one another and shrugged, not knowing which way to go. They both looked at Ron and Rufus, both of whom looked back and shrugged. Shrugging once more, Kim made an executive decision and swam upward towards the pipe in the roof. She entered it and Shego, who was swimming right after her, followed suit.

Shego's feet had just slipped past the opening when a grate slammed down behind them, cutting them off from Ron and Rufus. Shego cursed, turned around and lit up, determined to get the whole group back together before they swan into whatever trap they were obviously swimming into. Before the plasma had made any inroads, though, the chamber suddenly emptied, and all of the water was sucked violently out through the sideways pipe that Kim had discarded as a route. Ron got caught up in the current and was sucked out along with the water. Rufus, who was closer to Shego than Ron had been, managed to avoid this fate by hanging on for dear life to the bars above him.

Shego cursed again and reached down to pick him up, only to drop him when Kim suddenly fell into her arms. With no water to give her buoyancy and very little to hang onto, Kim had failed in her attempt to stay where she was and had plummeted back down the pipe.

"Nice of you to drop in, Princess," Shego quipped.

"Had to go with the obvious rejoinder, didn't you?" Kim accused.

"Yup," Shego affirmed.

Kim rolled her eyes. "Put me down please," she requested. Shego thought about ignoring the request, but Ron had just been sucked away by the world's largest toilet bowl and now was not the time. She put Kim down and peered down the grate, only to find that the toilet bowl analogy had been quite apt. The chamber was filling back up with water much as a toilet tank would have.

"I vote we wait for the pipe to fill back up and continue the way we were going," Shego stated, knowing Kim probably wanted to cut through the grate and follow Ron, but truly believing that going up was the better call.

Kim thought about Shego's suggestion. Her impulse was to cut through the grate and follow after Ron, but she knew Shego was right and they should go upward. "Okay," she agreed.

Shego blinked in surprise but otherwise said nothing. The water level rose quickly and they got ready to swim. They didn't get much of a chance, though, because as soon as the water got over their heads, the underwater toilet flushed again, and this time it sucked all of the water in the chamber through their pipe. There wasn't much they could do but go along for the ride; the smoothness of the pipe and the strength of the current undermined any attempts to resist the current or even to slow themselves down. They didn't slow down at all until the pipe opened up into a room where it unceremoniously dumped them into a wading pool like some sort of demented water slide.

They were instantly surrounded by armed guards and they glanced at one another to gauge whether they should fight their way out. A quick head count showed they were outnumbered twenty to one and though they were both confident that they could take all sixty of them, they figured the quickest way to get to Ron was to allow themselves to get captured.

Ron opened his eyes gingerly, his head hurting from where it had smacked the side of the pipe as he had been sucked through. He was alone in the room, or so he thought until a voice broke the silence. "How nice of you to join us, Mr. Stoppable," it said.

"You know my name?" Ron asked, a thought popping in his head. "But that means you can't be Drakken," he realized before his head exploded into searing pain and the world went black.

"Well, this is cozy," Kim muttered as she and Shego brushed chests for the umpteenth time. After their capture, the henchmen had brought them into what was obviously the control center of the lair and chained them together in the middle of the room with Rufus suspended high above them. They were chained by the wrists from shackles that were suspended from the ceiling, and by the ankles whose ends were bolted into the floor and they were strung together in such a way as to have less than ten centimeters between them. It made for a lot of inadvertent touching that was both annoying and exciting all at the same time.

Shego shrugged, or she would have if she had been able to move her shoulders. "Eh, it could be a lot worse, especially for a trap trap," she decided. She smirked as her reflexive shrug movement made Kim brush against her again. "I actually kind of like it," she admitted cheekily, "and from your perpetual blush, I think you do too, Princess."

"Maybe," Kim admitted begrudgingly, her blush growing deeper at the admission. "But I am really glad the whole beach thing happened or this would be really awkweird."

"True, but it did happen and we are more comfortable with each other now, so we could make the best of a bad situation," Shego offered, flirting and teasing all at the same time.

"Yeah, I don't think so, Junior," Kim said mock sternly. "Now get your mind out of the gutter and help me think of a way out of here."

"What if I have already thought of a plan? Do I get to let my mind wander to inappropriate places then?" Shego inquired.

Kim would have smacked her if she could have. "You have a plan? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Cause it is a plan, but it kinda sucks," Shego admitted. "I can melt these and set us free," she said, swinging her arms to indicate the chains.

"But?" Kim prompted

"But, Drakken was actually smart enough to use a high-quality steel and it is going to take a shitload of energy to melt," Shego explained. "By you standing this close to me, which now suddenly makes sense beyond the pervy, you would get really badly burnt or more likely killed. The only reason that I would consider it at all is that the washer o' doom that you wear nowadays seems to protect you from my blasts. I have no idea if it would stand up to that kind of energy, though."

"Of course it would, duh," Kim said dismissively. Shego looked skeptical. "It saved you from a comet, Shego, and gave you superpowers. I think it can protect me from those powers."

"I suppose," Shego allowed. She sighed, not really in love with this idea, but seeing no other way. "Ready, Pumpkin?" she asked, preparing to light up.

"Nice of you to join us, Kim Possible," an overly familiar voice greeted them, interrupting the proceedings. Drakken, his whole being puffed up with the pride of their capture, strode in. He glanced to his right. "Nice to see you too, Shego," he said dismissively.

"Bring that attitude over here, asshole," Shego growled.

"He's got some sort of weapon, Shego," Kim murmured, and indeed he did. It wasn't particularly large, but it looked to be quite sophisticated, especially for Drakken.

"Who stole that for you, Dr. D?" Shego taunted. "It looks too fancy to be yours."

"I always told you words hurt, Shego," Drakken pouted. "And besides, you're wrong. It turns out that if I am properly motivated, my genius comes through."

"Yeah right," Shego mocked. "Five bucks says that thing doesn't even work. What the hell is it supposed to be anyway?"

"Try to fish for info?" Kim whispered, having figured it out.

"Yup," Shego whispered back.

"I call it 'The Inverter'," Drakken told them proudly, not realizing he was playing into Shego's hands.

"Yeah?" Shego mocked. "So what in the hell does that mean?"

"Well, to be completely honest, I don't know," Drakken admitted unexpectedly. "It does different things to different people that I test it on. For some people, it seems to invert whatever is the strongest emotion they are feeling at the time, hence the name. For others, it makes them confess their deepest, darkest secret. For others, it just amplifies whatever they are already feeling."

"And that is helpful to villainy, how?" Shego asked sarcastically. "Blackmail fodder? The internet is cheaper and faster. And switching people's emotions is not only rude, it's dumb."

"Fine, then Shego, we'll see how you like it," Drakken pouted, aiming the gun at her.

"Eh, you can try, but I am generally so apathetic that no emotion is particularly stronger than the other," Shego pointed out. "And most of my deep, dark secrets went by the wayside yesterday, so you won't get much in that department, either."

Drakken lowered the gun briefly, sulking at her confidence. "Fine," he said petulantly, knowing she right about the emotion thing and figuring she wasn't bluffing about the secret thing. He glared at them both before raising the gun again. "Fine, I'll shoot Kim Possible then," he said, aiming and firing all in one quick motion.

Kim arched her back as the beam struck her, and Shego nearly dislocated both shoulders as she lunged forward to help her. The chains held fast though and she was yanked back. She growled and lit up her hands, only to stop when Kim groaned and slowly lifted her head. Shego caught her eye and quirked her eyebrows in an unspoken "Are you okay?" She was relieved beyond measure when Kim winked and nodded almost imperceptibly. An unspoken "How?" flitted back to Kim, and Kim used her eyes to indicate the amulet that lay hidden beneath her turtleneck. She then used her eyes to tell Shego that she had a plan and that she should just follow along.

"So how do you feel, Kim Possible?" Drakken taunted. "Any secrets you would like to share?"

"I feel different," Kim said, turning to look at him. Shego moved accidentally, causing their bodies to brush up against one another again, and Kim turned her gaze to her. The look that Kim was giving her was unmistakably predatory, and even though Shego knew Kim was faking, it was simultaneously making her both completely terrified and completely aroused.

Kim took a step toward her and Shego instinctively took a step back, though the chains prevented her from going very far. "We're friends now, remember, Pumpkin?" Shego reminded her.

"Friends?" Kim said scornfully, moving closer. "We could never be friends, Shego. We're too much alike and there is too much past between us."

Shego looked at her quizzically. She hoped "bizarre" was the act Kimmie was going for, because Shego really couldn't tell which of the Inverter's attributes Kimmie was going for. Kim either hated her (inverter option), Kim was hot for her (deep, dark secret option that wasn't so deep and dark anymore but Drakken didn't know that) or Kim was really hot for her because of their physical closeness (amplification option). "But we've been friends for a while now, Pink," Shego disagreed, playing along as best she could.

"But we haven't, Junior," Kim contradicted. "We've been amicable rivals. Drakken's little toy has shown me that. And," she continued. "It has brought a few other things to the surface as well." She reached up and kissed Shego passionately on lips.

"Ah, deep, dark secret option," Shego thought absently. Their bodies melded closer and Kim bit her lip. Shego took this to mean that it was her turn now that Drakken was probably well and thoroughly distracted. She was, at any rate. She lit up, starting with her hands. She slowly increased the coverage, listening intently for any yelps of pain and sniffing intently for the stink of burning skin. Neither one assaulted her senses, so she engulfed herself completely, causing them both to be alight with green flame.

"Well, I guess the amulet is working," Kim mused as she felt a mild increase in warmth that might not have had anything at all to do with Shego lighting up. After a while she could also feel the energy that Shego was giving off surging through her system, and it was an odd sensation.

With such an assault, the chains holding them began to weaken, and in a couple of minutes more, they would probably break entirely. Kim and Shego could both sense this and were ready to spring into action, even though they both rather liked where they were.

A loud, pompous, completely familiar and therefore completely unexpected voice cut through the room. "You have got to be kidding me!" Ron bellowed from where he had appeared next to Drakken, shocking Kim and Shego into stopping everything they were doing. The flame disappeared and they took a step back from each other. They looked over at Ron, only to discover that is wasn't Ron; based on the red tights, Zorpox had made a return engagement.

"Looks like Ron wasn't set up after all," Shego observed.

"That's not Ron," Kim insisted. "Ron would never intentionally hurt an animal."

"No, he wouldn't," Shego agreed. "Fabulous. Now we have something else to worry about."

Meanwhile, over a few paces, Drakken was extolling the praises of his new invention to the newly-arrived Zorpox. "It worked!" he bragged. "You saw! Kim was indulging in a completely atypical behavior. How do you think it worked on her?"

"It didn't, you buffoon," Zorpox spat. "It isn't 'atypical' behavior; they're dating."

"They can't be!" Drakken protested. "Shego has a crush on me!"

Shego and Kim overheard and Shego's eyebrows shot four inches upward. Kim chuckled. She couldn't help it, even though everything else about this situation pretty much sucked.

"She doesn't have a crush on you, Buffoon, and she never did," Zorpox said dismissively. "She's gay, and she's been plotting to steal my girlfriend for years." He turned his anger on Shego. "What did you think I was just going to sit back and let you take what is rightfully mine? Look around you, Junior; this all my doing, and I did it for revenge."

Rage was building and it was building fast. He had insulted Kimmie by insinuating she was some sort of property that could be owned. He had insulted her by accusing her of stealing Kimmie when she had done everything in her damn power not to interfere in their relationship. And, on top of all this, he had called her 'Junior.' Exactly three people were allowed to call her 'Junior' and he was not one of them.

Kim could see the rage building in Shego's eyes and knew she had to interfere before Zorpox got Ron killed. "You aren't yourself, Ron, and I think you really need to stop talking now," she said softly.

"Shut up," Zorpox said bluntly. "You don't even deserve my time. You allowed yourself to be seduced, allowed yourself to be taken away from the only person who really loves you, all for some momentary thrill. Ron might have told you he is okay with it, and knowing the sentimental sap as well as I do, he probably is. But I'm not, because you are nothing but a whore and a dyke whore at that."

That did it; no one called any woman that in Shego's presence without being badly beaten, and saying that about her princess pushed her over the edge into homicidal rage. Her face turned into a mask of evil and rage; she yanked her chains out of the ceiling with a flick of her wrists and lit her plasma to make them fall from her wrists. She walked forward, snapping her ankle shackles as she did so and leaving a pile of metal rubble on the floor. She then turned on Zorpox, stalking him like a tiger stalks her prey, but he was either overconfident or over-stupid because he merely stood there. She grabbed him by the neck and hoisted him up, needing only to squeeze or light up to end his miserable existence.

"Don't do it, Junior," a voice in her head pleaded. "Kimmie-Ann will never forgive you and you will never forgive yourself."

That calming voice got Shego to snap out of it. "This is too easy; it has to be a setup," Shego realized out loud. "Someone wants me to kill your sorry ass." She smacked Zorpox on the side of the head, knocking him out cold and dumped him somewhat gently on the floor. "All right, time to kick the ass of someone who deserves it," Shego said with a smirk, turning to face Drakken.

"But this wasn't my idea, Shego!" Drakken whimpered.

"You really expect me to believe that Zorpox is behind all this?" Shego asked, lighting up.

"Well, I never would have expected you to believe that Drewbie was behind all this," a new voice countered.

"Drewbie?" Shego and Kim questioned simultaneously, both of them turning toward the voice. "Mama Lipsky?" Shego asked, bewildered, when she had confirmed the identification.

"My name is Sue Lipsky," Mrs. Lipsky said pointedly. She pushed a button on the panel she was standing in front of, and without warning, Shego found herself recaptured, trapped in a cage whose bars she would never be able to melt.

"And now my plan is complete," Sue sighed happily. "Team Possible will be no more, and Drewbie and I will rule the Earth."

"We're not dead yet, Mama Lipsky," Shego countered, knowing that if Mama Lipsky were a typical villain, and thus wanted to explain her brilliant plan, they wouldn't be dead for a while. She decided to get the process moving so that Kim could figure out a way to escape while Mama Lipsky was blathering on and they could get the hell out of here. "So, why'd you do it, Mama Lipsky?" Shego taunted. "You've got us, but why do you have us?"

"Revenge, my dear," Sue said, as though it were obvious. "There is a lot of bad blood between our families. I was going to leave you alone, but then you left and broke my Drewbie's heart, and now you will have to pay for it."

Shego rolled her eyes. Apparently, a few things needed to be, for lack of a better term, straightened out. "I didn't break his heart, Mama Lipsky," Shego said evenly. "There was never anything between us."

"But you had a crush on him; he told me so," Sue said accusingly.

"He is completely off his nut," Shego answered. "I don't like men in that way," she said slowly, emphasizing every word. "I like women, and I have liked one woman in particular for practically the entire time that I worked for your son." She didn't look at Kim, but Kim could guess who she was talking about and grinned briefly.

"Well then," Sue said after she had let that information sink in, "it is even worse because you were leading my Drewbie on."

"I would have had to have a penis to lead your Drewbie on," Shego said in exasperation. Mama Lipsky looked puzzled so Shego decided to reiterate. "Drewbie is gay, Mama Lipsky," she said succinctly.

"I am not!" Drakken cut in. "How dare you tell my mother such lies!"

"Want me to call up Lucre, Drewbie?" Shego countered, and Drakken paled considerably.

"Oh, I know that Drewbie is gay," Sue said unexpectedly.

"What?" Kim, Shego, Drakken and Rufus all said in unison.

"Oh, I've known all about it all for the entire time: the evil, the taking over the world schemes, the being gay. Did you really think that a momma's boy like Drewbie could really hide all of that from his mother?" Sue asked incredulously.

"Then why all of the bullshit of me having a crush and leading him on and all of that?" Shego challenged.

"Oh, that was just a smoke screen," Sue explained. "Drewbie really did believe you had a crush on him and I thought that maybe you did. I see now that you don't and you knew that leading him on would be pointless. So, there really is no further reason to pretend that is my reason for killing you all and taking over the world."

"So why are you killing us and taking over the world?" Kim asked, curious.

"Oh, the reason is still revenge," Sue said. "But not for my son's benefit. It is actually for my grandfather and the life of his that was ruined by your family members."

"That was at least a hundred ago," Shego pointed out. "Don't you think you should have gotten over that by now?"

"Gotten over it? Gotten over it!" Sue bellowed.

"Guess not," Shego muttered.

"Your ancestors sent my grandfather to jail, then they beat him up and left him to die in the jungle before they sent the police after him and put him back in jail!" Sue said angrily, moving closer and closer to Shego's cage. "He could have been anything; he could have even ruled the world. But instead he spent most of his life rotting in a jail cell." She glared at Shego and stepped up to the bars of the cage, unsheathing a weapon of some sort from a hidden pocket.

"Shego!" Kim called out, angry, worried, and alarmed all at the same time. With the shot of epinephrine that followed, she felt energy sweep throughout her system and without any real thinking on her part, her hands lit up in green plasma. "Whoa," Kim breathed.

"Whoa," Shego echoed. She then lit up her own hands just to make sure she still could, and breathed a sigh of relief when the green plasma shot to her fingertips.

Kim felt the chains on her wrists melting away and she grinned. This amulet was becoming handier by the minute. She figured it was temporary, though, so she worked as quickly as she could. As soon as her wrist bonds were gone, she set to work on her ankle bonds. Just as she freed her feet, she could feel her energy waning, so she used the last of it to send a blast skyward that hit the restraints holding Rufus. They crumbled and Rufus dropped into her outstretched hand. "Try to free Shego if you can, Rufus," she requested. "I think the button is on that panel up there." Rufus nodded and jumped down.

Sue, who had been distracted from shooting Shego by the spectacle, looked on bemusedly. "The luck of some people is just really disgusting," she muttered. She turned her back on Shego to face the more immediate threat of Kim. "Nicely done, Ms. Possible," she said sarcastically. "But I am still going to win."

"And how exactly do you figure on that?" Kim asked, knowing that she should be able to take an old woman with little-to-no difficulty.

"Because my plan is perfect," Sue said immodestly. "And even though you have circumvented many of my traps, you can't escape them all."

"Plan? Traps?" Kim questioned, hoping that Sue would either tell her what was coming or tell her what she was doing, giving Rufus more time to set Shego free.

"What? Did you think this was all random?" Sue mocked. "My plan is fail-proof; even if one part fails, there is another to take its place."

"So, for instance, if we didn't get busted by the cops, there was a contingency plan," Shego interjected, trying to keep her talking.

"Exactly," Sue said proudly. "I arranged all of those thefts with planted evidence so that Team Possible would be the prime suspects. If you were arrested, that would be lovely, but if my bogus evidence failed to bring you down, then my choice of thefts would be likely to stall you for awhile. If for some reason, perhaps because one of the members of Team Possible had preeminent microbiologists for relatives, the commonality of all of the thefts was discovered, then the clues would lead you here and I would be ready for you."

"Clues?" Kim prompted, seeing that Rufus had almost made it to the control panel.

"Of course clues," Sue said dismissively. "The note that had my son's catch phrase on it; the maniacal laughter; the coordinates that were so easy to get out of Jack Hench."

Shego swore. "I'll get the bastard for that one," she grumbled. "What about Zorpox?" she asked, indicating the prone figure on the floor. "How does he figure into all of this?"

"He was easy to get to," Sue replied, "unlike the two of you. I knocked him out one night and made a few modifications to his personality by implanting a chip."

"A chip?" Kim said, still stalling. "What kind?"

"One of my own design," Sue said proudly. "It is a hybrid of the Attitudinator, the Moodulator and a mind-control chip. And because Drewbie had some trouble in the past when certain people remembered being controlled, it also has a forced amnesia function."

"So you've been controlling him this entire time?" Shego clarified.

"Of course," Sue said. "I tried just turning him evil or making him angry and jealous, but he still didn't want revenge on you two. I had to make him do it." Shego breathed a huge sigh of relief that she didn't kill him, and from what she could see of her, Kim looked to be mighty relieved that the opinions of a mind-controlled Zorpox did not reflect Ron's true opinion.

With no one paying any attention to him whatsoever, Rufus was able to make his way over to the console area that Kim had indicated. He climbed onto the control panel and looked around frantically for the button. The one marked "Cage" seemed like a good bet, so he pushed it in, causing the cage around Shego to collapse and disappear into the floor. "Ha-ha!" he said triumphantly.

"Nice going, Roof," Shego congratulated him. "Well, Mama Lipsky, you are stuck between a Possible and a Goshen. Looks like your plan might have not been perfect after all."

"Oh, but it is," Sue disagreed. She sounded a signal and the room filled with not only henchman, but also a singular naked mole henchrat.

"I think we found our acid thief," Shego whispered to the mole rat that had perched on her shoulder.

"Uh-huh." Rufus agreed.

"Hold on, Roof," Shego warned him. He tightened his grip. She executed a perfect flip over the head of Mrs. Lipsky to end up right next to Kim, who promptly scooted closer and placed her back against Shego's.

"We kick their butts and fight our way out?" Kim suggested, a grin forming on her face.

"I think I said 'asses' but hell yes, Pumpkin," Shego replied with a grin of her own.

They stood back to back and waited for the henchmen to come. Come they did, and Kim and Shego repelled all comers with fists, flips, kicks and teamwork. The first few dozen went down easily, but they kept coming and the short-handed Team Possible started to tire. Luckily for them, there was only twenty or so left to fight, and after a quick non-verbal conference, Kim lured them to the correct spot on the floor and Shego tossed Rufus back over to the control panel. He pushed the "Cage" button again and the cage reassembled, trapping them all inside. Rufus chuckled and started to jump down, but was prevented by the evilest looking mole rat he had ever seen.

The henchrat growled at him and charged. Rufus timed himself and jumped perfectly to allow most of the other mole rat to run harmlessly under him while the stubby tail remained for Rufus to bite. He bit and then proceeded to yelp in pain as his teeth hit solid metal. "Ow!" he complained. He glared at the other mole rat, which was coming around for a second charge. Rufus narrowed his eyes and stood his ground as the henchrat came closer and closer. At the very last second, Rufus jumped, timing it so he landed on the henchrat's back. He did a quick survey with his paws and soon found what he was looking for: the off button. He pushed the button and the other mole rat went limp.

"Well, Mama Lipsky, your henchmen are either unconscious or in a cage, your mechanical mole rat has been deactivated and your son," here Shego peered over the control console, "is hiding and whimpering. Ready to give up yet?"

"Not quite," Sue said, producing the weapon she had threatened Shego with earlier. Before she could aim, though, Shego sent a plasma blast that knocked it out of her hand and sent it over Kim's way. Kim picked it up and threw it to Shego who promptly melted it.

"Next attempt?" Kim asked pleasantly.

Sue Lipsky scowled, and Kim and Shego hoped that it meant that the old geezer had finally run out of tricks. "You two make a formidable team," she complimented them. "I admit I underestimated you. But I do have one more ace in the hole." She produced a small remote control from her pocket. "The chip that is implanted in Mr. Stoppable's brain has a self-destruct mechanism in it. I had hoped to just kill the two of you, seeing as Mr. Stoppable is an innocent party, but if the only way I can get to the two of you is to kill someone you both love, then so be it." She pushed the button and threw it at their feet.

"No!" Kim screamed and Shego sent two full-fisted blasts of plasma at the remote in the vain hope that it would somehow interrupt the transmission. She missed, badly, and everyone waited for the inevitable. But, much to everyone's mutual shock, nothing happened. Ron, still soundly knocked out from Shego's earlier blow, continued to sleep peacefully on the floor, his head fully intact. Kim picked up the remote cautiously and examined it, smiling when she saw what the trouble was.

"There's no battery," she said, tossing it to Shego.

Shego looked it over. "You're right," she said with a smirk. Then, with untold satisfaction, she crushed it in her fist.

"No battery?" Sue screeched, her cool demeanor completely gone now that all of her traps had failed. "But I put the battery in there myself." She reached into the pocket where she had got it from and jumped when the pocket moved. Rufus chittered at her angrily and jumped down, holding his battery prize aloft as he ran to Shego.

Kim grinned. "There are more than three of us in Team Possible," she told Sue proudly. Sue glared at her, but said nothing.

'We done here, Pumpkin?" Shego asked.

"I think so," Kim replied.

"Cool," Shego said. She activated her wrist kimmunicator. "Hey Nerdlinger, contact GJ and give them the coordinates. We have a few people here they might want to talk to," she told Wade.

"Can do, Shego," Wade answered. He was silent for a few moments. "They'll be there in thirty minutes," he informed her when he came back on the line.

"Excellent. Thanks, Nerdlinger," Shego said, signing off.

They passed the time by thoroughly restraining Sue Lipsky and Drakken and by doing a search of the lair. They found many interesting things, most notably Bev, who was alive and well and munching some hay in one of the lair's rooms. They also found most of the rest of the stolen goods in another room. When they returned to the control room, they found the last thing they were hoping to find: a button labeled "Lair Surfacer" that when pushed caused the entire complex to rise to the surface of the ocean.

They finished waiting for GJ up there, and after all of the prisoners had been loaded on to the transport planes, Shego contacted the plane to pick them up. They loaded on Ron, who was still fast asleep and still dressed in red tights, and Bev, who was a little wary of the plane at first but who didn't seem to mind after she had been up there for a while. They went at full speed back to Middleton, and after placing a quick call to Yi to inform her Bev had been put back where she belonged, they took Ron to see Kim's mom.

"Can you help him, Mom?" Kim asked tentatively after they had explained the situation.

"Of course I can help him," Mrs. Dr. Possible assured her. "He'll probably wind up with a bad headache from the concussion, but the chip won't do him any harm," she explained, looking pointedly at Shego. Shego grinned and tried to look innocent. Mrs. Dr. Possible rolled her eyes and shooed them both out of the room so she could prep for surgery.

They waited nervously in the waiting room, but Kim's mom came out much more quickly than they anticipated. "Ron is doing fine," she told them. "The chip was very easy to remove. He'll stay here overnight for observation, but he should go home tomorrow."

"Thanks, Mom," Kim said sincerely.

"You're welcome," her mom answered with a smile. "Now, it has been a very long day for both of you. I would suggest that you both go home and get some sleep."

"We will," Kim promised.

"See you girls tomorrow," Mrs. Dr. Possible said, hugging them each in turn before retreating back into the operating room.

"Your mom is right, Pink," Shego commented. "We should get some sleep. I need to take the jet back to the hangar, so I'll say good night here." She glanced around quickly to make sure no one was watching before she drew Kim close and kissed her. "Good night, Princess," she said.

"Good night, Shego," Kim said affectionately. Shego turned to leave, but as she made it to the elevator, Kim remembered something. "Wait a second, Shego," she called. "What time tomorrow?"

"We have plans at eight, so if you want dinner, we had better meet at 6ish," Shego called back.

"We have plans?" Kim questioned.

"We have plans," Shego confirmed. The elevator opened, and Shego got into it. "See you tomorrow, Pumpkin," she said as the doors closed.

"Bye, Shego," Kim said. She smiled. Now that she knew Ron was okay and their latest mission was in the books, she was looking very forward to tomorrow night.


	10. Loose Ends and New Strings

Chapter 10 - Loose Ends and New Strings

Kim strolled down the hospital corridors scanning the room numbers for the one they had told her that Ron was in. Technically, it wasn't visiting hours yet, but most of the hospital staff knew her and so they let her prowl the hallway without comment. Room 535 appeared on her left, and this being the right number, she turned and went in, carefully opening the closed door as not to disturb any of the occupants that might be sleeping. She looked around and saw Ron in a bed by the window. He was in there all by himself and Kim was glad he had been given a private room.

Well, almost private, she mused, smiling as she saw Rufus sound asleep and sprawled on Ron's chest. Ron was already awake, and broke out into a wide grin at the sight of Kim. "Morning, KP!" he said enthusiastically. His enthusiasm and accompanying loud voice was not appreciated by Rufus, who woke up and glared at Ron for interrupting his sleep.

"Hey Ron," Kim replied, grabbing a chair and plopping into it next to his bed. "How's your head feeling?"

"Eh, it hurts, but not as badly as it did last night," Ron said. "So, enough with the pleasantries, KP. How'd I end up here anyway? Did I knock myself out or something? I kinda remember hitting my head on the pipe and making it into a room, but nothing after that. The next thing I remember is waking up here."

"You didn't knock you out," Kim said truthfully. "Shego did that for you."

"SG conked me on the head?" Ron asked, puzzled. "But why? Was it an accident or something?"

"Um, no, it wasn't an accident," Kim replied hesitantly. She sighed; apparently the amnesia component of the chip had worked just fine and Ron didn't remember a thing. She didn't know whether she should tell him what had happened or just let it go.

"Kim, why did SG whack me on the head?" Ron asked suspiciously, breaking into her thoughts and signaling that she had already probably told him too much if she was trying to keep it a secret.

"It is a long story, Ron," she answered. "And I am not sure you want to hear it."

"What, did I turn evil or something?" Ron joked. Kim didn't answer but looked at Rufus, who looked back at her before they both looked at Ron. "I did turn evil," Ron realized, his eyes widening. "But I don't remember being evil. What happened?"

"You were kidnapped a while back and implanted with a chip," Kim told him. "That chip is what Mom took out of your head last night."

"Who put it there? Drakken?" Ron questioned, but then shook his head. "It wasn't Drakken; the person who met me in the chamber knew my name, so it couldn't have been Drakken."

"Except it was Drakken, kind of," Kim said, shrugging. "It was actually his mother, Sue Lipsky. She wanted revenge on all of us for what we had done to her family, and you were supposed to help her in that revenge. The chip could futz with your emotions and your good/evil status. And it also had a mind control element in case making you evil and jealous didn't work and you still refused to work with her."

"Did she make me do anything bad?" Ron asked plaintively.

"Define 'bad'," Kim requested, hedging.

"Did I hurt any of you?" Ron clarified. "Did I try to hurt any of you?"

"No, you never did anything physical to try to hurt us," Kim assured him. "But you were talking some trash about me and it really made Shego mad. Like really, really mad. She almost, um, kinda killed you, but instead she didn't and just whacked you on the head instead."

"SG almost killed me?" Ron asked, freaked out. "What in the world did I say?"

"Um, some not so nice stuff about me," Kim answered vaguely. She forestalled his next question. "But don't ask me to repeat it because I am not going to."

"Wow, it must've been really bad," Ron concluded. "So what happened after that? Did you guys kick her butt?"

"Yeah, we did," Kim said proudly. "Shego and I fought through a bunch of henchman; Rufus fought a mecha-molerat…"

"You fought a mecha-molerat?" Ron interrupted. Rufus nodded. "That's awesome, buddy! Did you win?"

"Yeah," Rufus said modestly.

"Boo-yah," Ron congratulated him, giving him a high five. "So what happened after that?"

Kim related the rest of the story. "Well, after we defeated everybody, Sue tried to blow your head off, but Rufus prevented it. We called GJ to clean up the mess, brought Bev back to Yi and brought you here to the hospital," she told him.

Ron had only heard one thing. "I almost died again?" he yelped.

"Um, yeah," Kim admitted. "the chip had a self destruct mechanism. But Rufus took the battery out of the remote," she said brightly, trying to move past the fact that Ron had almost died twice.

"Dude. I am glad I was out cold," Ron said, still slightly wigged out. "Wow, I can't believe I was evil. Was I really Zorpox?"

"Uh-uh. Yup," Kim and Rufus said at the same time.

Ron thought about that for a few moments and then blanched. "But if I did actually turn into Zorpox, was I involved at the stables? Was I the one that actually killed Sherman?" he asked, horrified.

And thus came the question that Kim herself had pondered and the one she really didn't know how to answer. "Sue didn't say if you had actually been involved in the crime, Ron," Kim said. "So I don't really know one way or the other." She thought briefly, realized something and acted on it, firing up the wrist Kimmunicator that Wade had given her only this morning. She impatiently waited for a few moments as the person on the other end failed to pick up, but at last, Shego's sleepy face appeared on her wrist.

"What is it with you, Princess? Do we have to have the I-don't-get-up-early conversation again?" Shego complained, yawning.

"You have class in a couple of hours, so you would've had to get up anyway," Kim retorted, dismissing her complaint with a grin. "Do you still have the note that Zorpox left at the Stables over at the Mansion?"

"I guess?" Shego replied. "I haven't moved it, so it should still be in the parlor." Kim could hear the sheets rustling as Shego got out of bed. Some floorboard creaking and under the breath mumbling later, Shego's face popped back up on the screen. "Yeah, it's here," she said.

"Scan it with the kimmunicator and send it over," Kim requested.

"Will you leave me alone then?" Shego shot back.

"Yes," Kim agreed.

"All right. Here you go, Pumpkin," Shego said, scanning it and sending it over. "Later, Pink," she said, abruptly signing off when it was done.

Kim shook her head. "Bye, Shego," she said to the empty air. She called up the file, but the screen was too small and she couldn't read it. So, she used the Kimmunicator's wireless function to send it to the nearest printer. "Be right back, Ron," she said, disappearing. She reappeared shortly. "Well, I don't know for sure if you were there or not, but I do know that you didn't write this note," she stated. She handed Ron the piece of paper so he could look at it.

Ron broke out into a smile because Kim was right. "This isn't my handwriting," he confirmed.

"Well, since this was the only piece of evidence we had at that crime scene and it doesn't look like you wrote it, my vote is that you were not involved," Kim decided, knowing that the evidence was circumstantial at best, but figuring if Ron had an out, he should take it,

He gladly took it. "Yeah, I don't think I could hurt an animal, and if I was under mind control, it wasn't even me," he decided.

"And Sue did say that she had to use the mind control to make you hate Shego and I," Kim mentioned. "You didn't hate us even after she made you evil and jealous, so I doubt you would hurt an animal even if she played with your emotions."

Ron thought that over for a couple of seconds and a look of relief settled over his features. "Thanks, KP," he said gratefully.

"Never a problem, Ron," she said, hopping up off her chair and hugging him. He hugged her back.

When they parted, Kim glanced at the clock on the wall. "I gotta go, Ron," she said regretfully. "Otherwise, I am going to be late for school."

"That's cool, KP," Ron replied. "Your mom says that I will be out this afternoon anyway."

"Indeed he will," Mrs. Dr. Possible confirmed having appeared in the doorway.

"Hey Mom," Kim greeted her. "I was just leaving for school."

"So I heard," her mom replied, looking at her strangely. Kim didn't like that look. "I know you have school, Kim, but could you wait for me in my office? I want to look at Ron, but I want to talk to you before you leave."

"Uh-oh," Kim thought. "Um, sure, Mom," she said out loud.

"I'll be there in a few minutes," Mrs. Dr. Possible promised. "Now HIPAA says you have to scoot."

Kim did as she was told, but with a sense of reluctant dread. She had no idea what her mom wanted to talk about, but her ideas of a topic were running the gamut from she needed Kim to pick up the tweebs after school to she knew that Shego had cracked Ron in the head and Kim was now forbidden to hang out with such a dangerous individual.

Mrs. Dr. Possible was true to her word and Kim only had a few minutes to stew in her apprehension before her mom came strolling into her office. "So what's up, Mom?" Kim asked, trying to effect an air of nonchalance.

"Well, honey, to be completely honest, I am a little worried about you," her mom admitted. "You've been acting strangely lately, and there were two nights this week that you never came home. I know one of those nights you were on a mission, but you never told me why you were gone that other night."

So apparently her mom had, like Bonnie, Monique and Ron, picked up on her weird behavior before she did. "I needed to figure some stuff out, Mom," Kim confessed. "And I just had to get out of my room for a while." She wanted to add "because I knew there was one person who would understand," but she knew that her Mom was proud of her role as Kim's confidante and Kim didn't want to make her feel bad.

"Is everything working out all right with you and Ron?" her mom asked unexpectedly, not really believing her story even though it was true.

"Um, sure," Kim lied, knowing her mom was talking about their coupledom and not about their friendship, but answering for the friendship anyway.

"You really shouldn't lie if you do it so poorly," her mom said wryly. "Were you at Ron's Monday night? Is that how he knew to come get your backpack?"

Kim shook her head vigorously. "I wasn't at Ron's Monday night," she stated firmly.

Mrs. Dr. Possible was still skeptical. "It is all right if you were, honey," she assured Kim. "But if you are taking your relationship to that level, we should probably think about getting you on some birth control."

"Oh boy," Kim thought. She didn't say anything for a good minute. Embarrassment at the topic, amusement at the irony and hesitancy about telling her mother the truth all swirled around in her mind, and she found herself unable to talk until she got her thoughts under control. "Um, I don't need any birth control, Mom," she said at last. "And, um, if things keep going like they're going, I might not need birth control ever."

"But I thought you said you and Ron were fine," her mom reminded her.

"We are fine; well, at least our friendship is," Kim clarified. "We did break up this week."

"Oh, honey, I am so sorry," Mrs. Dr. Possible said sympathetically.

"It is no big, Mom," Kim said hastily. "It was my fault we broke up."

Her mom raised an eyebrow. "And what could you possibly do to Ron to make him break up with you?" she asked quizzically. "He has followed you around like a puppy dog since he was four years old."

"I kind of broke up with him," Kim explained. Her mother said nothing but looked at speculatively. Kim knew that look and knew it would continue until she spilled her guts. "I um, kind of, fell in love with -well, maybe that's a bit strong- um, have a crush on someone else," Kim told her, her apprehension causing the words to come out in a jumble.

Mrs. Dr. Possible chuckled. "Ah. So is that why I saw the tail end of a very warm kiss in my hospital corridor last night?" she asked, a teasing grin on her face.

Kim turned bright red. Neither she nor Shego had thought anyone had been around. "Um, yeah, that would probably be why," she muttered. She glared at her still-chuckling mother. "But if you knew, why did you ask me about Ron and birth control and everything?" she challenged.

"I didn't want to force you out of the closet, Kimmie," her mom replied affectionately. "I wanted to coax you out of it. And I wanted to make sure that you weren't doing all of this behind Ron's back, because frankly, I reared you better than that."

"He knows and he is okay with it," Kim assured her. "Are you okay with it?" she asked meekly.

Mrs. Dr. Possible got up and circled around her desk to sit in the chair next to Kim. "There is nothing in this world that would make me love you any less, Kim," she said firmly, taking Kim's hands as she did so. "And while I might have preferred that you not choose a convicted criminal as your first girlfriend…"

"She's pardoned," Kim interjected brightly.

Her mother rolled her eyes. "So she is. But please be careful with her, Kimmie," she gently pleaded. "I like her a lot and she did save your life, but I would just like you to be careful."

"I will, Mom," Kim promised. "And, um, speaking of that, I have a date with Shego tonight."

"Non-mission curfew is midnight," her mother reminded her.

"Aw, Mom," Kim whined.

"12:00 AM, Bubble Butt," Mrs. Dr. Possible said firmly. "And I think you need to get to school now."

Kim sighed, "All right," she answered to both orders. She hugged her Mom tightly. "Love you, Mom."

"I love you too, Kim," her mom replied. They broke apart, and Kim smiled, turning around and left, dashing off to school to avoid being tardy.

The Middleton Mansion – Around 5:00 PM

It was a damn good thing that the midterm had been on Wednesday, Shego mused as she stood in front of the mirror putting on her makeup. If it had been today, there would have been no way in hell that she would have written any kind of coherent essay with the way her distracted mind wads racing back and forth. The whole thing with Sue was still bothering her; she really couldn't fathom that Sue would have gone through all of that trouble just for revenge. And if that really was her excuse, why had she waited until now?

Then there was also the rapidly approaching date with Kimmie. For whatever reason she was nervous about it, and that nervousness was freaking her out more than a little. She never got nervous about anything, and here she was worrying about a first date with a chick that she already knew dug her. That was usually the anxiety associated with a first date, wasn't it? It wasn't the date itself, it was the uncertainty of not knowing how your date really felt about you and whether she would want a second date. Shego knew all that already and she was still nervous. Damn, but this sucked.

It had even taken her forever to pick out an outfit for tonight. She had gone through most of her closet, trying on (and discarding) choice after choice. At last she stumbled on a combination that she liked, a tailored ¾ sleeve v-necked black sweater with emerald green slacks. She vacillated for a while about whether to wear heels or sandals, and at last chose black sandals, knowing that they were going to be doing a bit of walking this evening. Now, with her clothes picked out, she had turned her attention to her makeup.

"How enchanting you look this evening, Junior," Mim said unexpectedly, cutting into Shego's already nervous thoughts and completely freaking her out.

"Gaa!" Shego exclaimed, nearly poking her eye out with the eyeliner pencil. She took a few deep breaths to calm herself before turning to glare at the apparition in her bathroom. "It is a good thing I love you and you are already dead, Nana Mim," Shego informed her, shaking her head.

Mim laughed unrepentantly. "I know it is scampish of me, Junior, but it is ever so much fun," she said with a twinkle in her eye. "So, for what occasion are you dressed in a frilly frock?"

"It's not that frilly," Shego countered. "And I have a date with Kimmie tonight." She shivered as the room suddenly grew frigid.

"I do say that it is about time," Sheila said triumphantly.

"Well, she ambushed me on the beach, kissed me and asked me out," Shego related. "There really wasn't a way for me to say 'no.'"

"As if you wanted to," Sheila said wryly.

"No, I didn't," Shego agreed. "But I didn't really have a choice because somebody," – here she looked at Mim – "told Kimmie what the amulet was all about and she took it to mean that I was maybe interested in being more than friends."

Mim blushed, but otherwise remained defiant. "The night you were gone, Kimmie-Ann came calling here to discuss some things," Mim explained. "She had an idea of how she felt about you, but she needed some assurance that her affections could possibly be returned. I gave her that assurance, because if there was a way I could spare the two of you some of the romantic machinations that Sheila and I had to go through, then I would gladly do so."

Shego mulled that over. She knew that it had taken her Nanas a while to actually become a couple and that they almost hadn't due to circumstances. It figured that Nana Mim would want to spare her some of that. She was the type of person to give a gentle nudge in order to keep things in line and make it better for everyone. That thought brought Shego to another point she had wanted to bring up with her Nana when she saw her. "So what was the deal with popping into my head to prevent me from killing Stoppable?" she asked accusingly. "Is that going to happen often?"

"That was my idea," Sheila cut in. "So she is blameless for that intrusion."

"But it was Nana Mim's voice in my head, " Shego insisted.

"Well, yes, she decided to go because she passes more easily through the planes than do I, and you always listened to her more attentively than you ever listened to me," Sheila said, her eyebrow quirking in a teasing gesture.

"Did not," Shego shot back instantly, even though she knew Nana Sheila was right.

"Oh, but you did," Sheila disagreed cheerfully. "But it wasn't an accusation, Junior. She was the only one I would listen to, too. Although now I suspect that there may be another redhead that can get you to behave."

"Maybe," Shego acknowledged wryly, and then decided to see if her Nanas might be able to help her with another problem. "Did you guys know a Sue Lipsky?" she asked.

"Of course," Sheila said promptly. "She was Bartholomew's granddaughter."

"She is also your former employer's mother, unless I have my family trees wrong," Mim added.

"No, she's Drakken's mother, all right," Shego confirmed. "Did you guys have any run-ins with her?"

"Not her, per se," Sheila answered. "Unless I am not remembering something?" she asked questioningly, looking at Mim.

"No, you are correct," Mim agreed. "We had multiple incidents involving her grandfather, and we did have the chance to meet her during one of his capers, but she was but a child then. Why do you ask, Junior?"

"Because it turns out it was Sue Lipsky that was behind our latest mission, not Drew Lipsky," Shego responded. "She said she was doing it for revenge, but that just seems like an inordinate amount of hate to hang on to for so long."

"Well, villains are rarely logical," Mim pointed out wryly. "But, if I had wager a guess, I would say what prompted her plan of revenge at this late stage of the proceedings was that her initial plan of revenge had completely and utterly failed."

"But this is the first time she has tried anything against Kimmie and me," Shego said, a little confused.

"But I wager she wasn't hoping for revenge on the two of you; she was and still is seeking revenge on us, the ones that destroyed her grandfather's life," Sheila hypothesized. "When her first plan of retribution failed, she found herself forced to devise and execute a second."

"What first plan?" Shego asked in exasperation, feeling about five steps behind her Nanas' deductive reasoning.

"Forgive us, Junior; we forget that you are not privy to the information that being dead has afforded us," Mim apologized. "Do you remember when you started working for Lipsky?"

"Sure," Shego answered slowly. "He placed an ad in the evil classifieds and I answered it."

"Except that he never placed an ad," Mim said. "Sue had exactly one copy of that paper printed up and delivered to you."

"Then how come he knew I was applying for a job if he never placed an ad?" Shego questioned.

"Oh, he thought he had placed an ad, but his mother cancelled the order before it went to print," Sheila answered. "She delivered the one and only copy to you in the hopes that you would answer it. For, if you were to answer it, you, being the only applicant, would be hired by Drew. And in this way, she would have her revenge, because the great-grandniece that we both adored would not have only turned evil, she would be employed by a Lipsky."

"But when I left Drakken and joined Kimmie…" Shego began.

"…that plan fell to ruin and she was forced to start anew," Mim finished for her.

"Wow," Shego murmured. "She is batshit crazy but she knows how to plan."

"Indeed," Sheila agreed. "But she couldn't plan for everything and that ultimately was her downfall."

"Speaking of downfalls, it is nearly 5:40PM," Mim mentioned. "When exactly were you supposed to pick up Kimmie-Ann?"

"Shit," Shego cursed. "I am supposed to pick her up at her house at six." She hastily finished putting on her makeup and took one more look at herself in the mirror.

"You look lovely, Junior," Mim complimented her.

"Thanks, Nana Mim," Shego replied shyly. Mim smiled at her and disappeared from sight.

"If you have time, buy Mim-jay some flowers," Sheila advised. "Possible women are suckers for roses." She winked at Shego and vanished, following her beloved back to the other side. Shego chuckled to herself and shook her head. They were pains in her ass, but she was so glad to have them back in her life.

"Roses, gotcha, Nana Sheila," Shego murmured as she headed downstairs, grabbed her purse and ran out the door.

The Possible Residence - 6:00PM

Kim checked her reflection in the mirror, satisfied with the way she looked. She was wearing her pilfered green sweater, figuring if she had to get it dry cleaned and give it back, she might as well get another use out of it. She was also wearing the same pink floral skirt that she had worn when she had gone to Chicago with Shego. Kim smiled. It had only been a month ago, but it seemed way longer than that. She shook her head, bringing herself back to the present and glanced at her shoes. Shego had given no hint as to where they were going, so Kim decided to be safe and wear mary-janes in case heels might somehow be inappropriate.

"Night out, Kimmie-cub?" her father asked as he glanced up from his paper. "Is Ron picking you up soon?"

"Um, no, not really," Kim answered hesitantly. "Shego and I are going out tonight."

"Really?" Mr. Dr. Possible said interestedly. "That's nice. Where are you ladies headed?"

"We are going to dinner and then I don't know, but Shego has some plans that she won't tell me about," Kim replied, figuring the third degree was on its way now that her father realized it was a date date.

But apparently she hadn't said as much as she thought because her dad just smiled. "That sounds like fun. What time are you planning to come home?"

"Um, Mom said my curfew is midnight," Kim told him.

"But that's only for dates," her father said dismissively. "This is a girls' night out."

"Uh, yeah," Kim mumbled, but was spared from saying more by the ring of the doorbell. She answered it, smiling when she saw who was standing there. Of course she knew who it was going to be, but it made her smile anyway. "Hey Shego," she greeted her.

"Hey Princess," Shego answered with a grin of her own. "You look nice. The sweater is especially fetching."

"I thought so," Kim replied saucily. "You look very nice too."

"Thanks," Shego replied. "I brought you something," she added, holding out a single pink rose.

Kim took it but said nothing; instead, she glanced over at her father who was looking at them with friendly interest. "We'll see you later, Dad," she said, opening the door.

"Have a good time, you two," Dr. Dr. Possible answered genially as he turned back to his paper.

Shego raised an eyebrow as Kimmie pushed her out onto the front porch and closed the door. The other eyebrow joined it when Kim kissed her. When they parted, Kim smiled at her. "Thank you, Shego," she said. "It was very sweet of you."

"Well, if I get that reaction every time, you will have more flowers than you can handle, Pumpkin," Shego chuckled, looking at Kim with a gently teasing grin. Mentally, she was giving Nana Sheila props for her awesome advice.

Kim grinned at her. "Yeah, I'm a sucker for the flowers," she admitted. "But don't think I can always be bought off that easily," she warned.

"Noted," Shego said crisply. "Dinner?"

"Sounds good," Kim replied. She looked around. "Where's your car?" she asked.

"I thought we could walk," Shego offered. "It is a nice night." She held out her hand tentatively and Kim reached for it immediately, capturing it without the slightest hesitation.

"A walk sounds nice," she replied, and hand in hand they strolled through Middleton to the restaurant that Shego had picked out. It was once of the nicer places in town, but even as they walked in the door, Kim didn't get the whiff of snoot that she had gotten from some of the places that she had been with Ron. Everyone was very laid back, even though the prices on the menu predicated a certain type of clientele, and the food itself, though pricey, was an eclectic mix of American comfort food, Thai specialties and Italian cuisine that would have been at home in any roadside stand. Kim couldn't also help but notice that opposite-sex couples seemed to be pretty rare, yet everyone appeared to be on a date.

They were escorted to their table and they sat down, after which the waiter came over promptly and they ordered their drinks. Those came and they ordered their food allowing the waiter to both take their menus and leave them alone, thus giving them the opportunity to commence with the flirty inconsequential small talk that typified a first date.

"So do you like the place, Pink?" Shego asked.

"It has been very nice so far," Kim replied. "And I am really interested in seeing what the mozzarella egg rolls taste like."

"They're awesome," Shego said instantly.

"Really and you know this because?" Kim teased. "Maybe because you bring dates here often?"

"I haven't dated anyone since high school," Shego shrugged. "And that was in Go City, so no."

"Did you date girls in high school?" Kim asked before she realized it was a stupid question. "Of course you did, doy. What girls did you date in high school?"

Shego smirked. "Captain of the cheerleading squad," she replied truthfully.

"Get out," Kim ordered good-naturedly. "Really?"

"Yup," Shego confirmed.

"I never would have pegged you as a serial cheerleader dater," Kim said, amused. Shego arched an eyebrow and gave her the onceover. "Yes, I know I am a cheerleader, but there was also the rival/arch foe thing between us and thought that was the attraction. I never figured cheerleaders were your type."

"Well, if cheerleaders are my type, what's yours?" Shego flirted.

"Bad girls, apparently," Kim flirted back. "Speaking of which, where are you taking me after this?"

"Won't know until you get there, Princess," Shego taunted.

Kim was about to launch into full-scale puppy dog pout when their food arrived. "Don't think this is over," she warned Shego.

"Bring it on, Pink," Shego retorted smirking and so Kim did for the rest of the meal. Shego refused to budge, however, and Kim still found herself clueless as to where they were going even as they left the restaurant and made their way there.

"Um, the Middleton Wildlife Refuge?" Kim asked skeptically as they stood before the front gates. She could see the point in coming during the day; in fact it seemed like a good idea for a date, but at night when it was closed seemed a little odd. "This is what the plans were: to come to a closed animal refuge?"

"It's not closed if you know the right people," Shego said smugly. "and I hate fighting through the crowds."

"Ms. Goshen?" a voice inquired politely from the other side of the bars. They both blinked and looked at the park ranger who had suddenly appeared.

"That's me," Shego confirmed.

"May I please see some ID?" the ranger asked politely.

"Sure," Shego replied, digging through her wallet and producing her driver's license.

"Very nice to meet you, ma'am," the ranger said respectfully as she returned the license. She opened the gate and allowed them to enter. "Here are your visitors' passes," she said, handing each of them a badge. "I have been informed that you know your way around and are allowed access to everything, so I will leave you here."

"Thanks for letting us in," Kim said, speaking for the first time.

"Thank her for keeping this place in existence," the ranger said wryly and promptly disappeared.

Kim looked at Shego and Shego shrugged. "Nana Mim and Nana Sheila really loved this place and I couldn't break with tradition," she said nonchalantly. "Besides, it allows for these cozy after-hours visits." She smiled at Kim. "Come on, Princess. Let me show you around." Kim smiled and offered her hand, which Shego readily took. As they walked, they went by the wall o' donors, and sure enough, Mim and Sheila's names were on the top of the list. Kim also noted that Sheila Miriam Goshen was no slouch either.

As they made their way to the back of the refuge, Shego pointed out several interesting animals, explaining details about this and that to Kim. They kept up a lively conversation about the animals until they found themselves in the very back standing in front of a very large enclosure. Shego grinned widely. "Stay right here, Pumpkin," she told Kim. "I'll be right back."

"Shego, what are you doing?" Kim asked, curious. Shego didn't answer. Instead, she just winked and started climbing the fence in front of them. Kim watched dumbfounded as Shego made it to the top and then promptly jumped down into the middle of the enclosure. "Um, Shego, do you think that is safe?" Kim asked.

"Perfectly safe, Pink," Shego promised. "Come on, I know you are in here."

"Shego! Watch out!" Kim called out having seen a pair of glowing eyes trained on Shego, eyes that were above her and looking ready to pounce.

Shego whipped around and saw what time had seen. Her grin got wider. "Here kitty, kitty, kitty," she taunted. The cat snarled and pounced. Shego laughed and flipped backwards, making him miss his strike. When she landed, she laughed mockingly at him, but instead of charging again, the spotted cat merely glared at her. "You're getting slow, old timer," she teased. He rolled his eyes and sighed, but as soon as Shego crouched down in the grass, he came right over to her and started nuzzling her. "I've missed you too, boy," Shego said affectionately. "Come on, I've got someone I want you to meet." He quirked an eyebrow, but followed her to the gate.

Kim smiled. There was really only one being this could be. "Hi Rama, I'm Kim," she introduced herself as Shego opened the door and she came into the enclosure. "Is it okay if I pet him?" she asked Shego.

"He is usually a little shy around strangers, so you should probably be a little careful," Shego advised.

Kim offered her hand to Rama to sniff, which he did. He cocked his head as if he were thinking and sniffed again. He raised his head to look at Kim, his eyes growing visibly warmer as he looked her over. He rubbed her hand with his head and started purring. Figuring that was a good sign, Kim knelt down, and Rama responded by nuzzling her face and purring harder. "Is this typical?" Kim asked between head butts.

"No, it's not," Shego admitted, a bit perplexed. "It's as if he already knows you." Rama looked up and gave her a "well, duh, of course I know her" look. Shego's eyes widened. "He does know you," she realized. She searched her brain for when they possibly could have met before and she winced when she realized when it had to be. "You're kidding me, right?" she asked Rama. "That wasn't her." Rama, having stopped the rubbing to sit beside Kim, looked at Kim and nodded his head.

Kim couldn't help but notice the interplay. "I sense a story," she said.

"Um, yeah, there is one," Shego confirmed. "But it's a long one and I think its best left for later."

"Okay," Kim agreed. "but you are going to tell me eventually."

"Promise," Shego promised. "I would just like to make it out of this evening with my dignity still intact."

With an admission like that, Kim was more than intrigued, but she let the matter drop. "So now we have seen the main attraction, can we see the rest of the Refuge?" she requested while rubbing the top of Rama's head.

"Sure," Shego replied. "I can show you some of the animals that Nana Mim and Nana Sheila donated to the place. Wanna come with, Rama?" Rama did his best imitation of a shrug and nodded. Shego opened the gate and Kim came through. Shego followed her and then held the door for Rama. Rama at first came towards them but then stopped and turned away from them back toward the sleeping area of the enclosure. Before Shego could ask him what he was doing, he let out a soft growl.

The growl was answered by a high pitched squeak, and as Kim and Shego watched, a toddler version of Rama toddled out of the bushes. Seeing Rama, she ungainly scampered to him, squeaking all of the way. Rama nuzzled the cub and walked toward Kim and Shego so he could make introductions. The cub eyed them warily but followed after Rama.

The first human she encountered was Shego, but as Shego crouched down to say hello, the cub hissed at her and retreated farther under Rama. Rama tried Kim next, and though still cautious, the cub was bolder, coming out from beneath the larger cat. Kim knelt down slowly to get to her level. The cub regarded her, her little ears pricking up here and there as it observed her. Sensing Kim was a friend, the cub crept closer and closer, sniffing as she went, until she was right next to Kim. Kim cautiously reached a hand out and the cub swatted at it, but it was obviously a gesture of play rather than one of malice. Kim wiggled her fingers and the cub continued to swat at then. When the cub grew tired of the game, Kim gently picked her up, brought the cub up to cuddle in her arms and the cub started to purr. Kim beamed.

"I just lost my almost girlfriend, didn't I?" Shego wryly asked Rama as they watched. Rama nodded.

"So who are you are anyway?" Kim asked the purring cub in her arms.

"That's Anna," an amused voice told them. "She is Rama's great-granddaughter and she doesn't get along with many people. " The keeper walked into the enclosure and extended a hand. "I'm Pierre and I take care of these two."

"We were just going to take Rama" – here both Kim and Anna glared at her – "Um, Rama and Anna out for a bit to see the Refuge."

"Sure, just put them back when you are done," Pierre replied. "Normally, I wouldn't allow it, but Rama belongs to you, and Anna doesn't really look like she wants to stay."

"Um, no, she doesn't," Shego agreed, sighing as she saw that Kim had Anna upside down and was tickling her tummy.

"Have fun," Pierre requested as he opened the door for all of them to get through. Once realizing she was outside, Anna squeaked at Kim. Kim laughed and put her down and Anna ambled over to stand beside Rama. Shego took Kim's hand and together the four of them started to make their way around the complex.

It was obvious that Shego knew this place very well and that she liked being here. Her face lit up every time she saw a particular animal that she wanted Kim to see and she would gently drag Kim over to take a look. Kim hadn't seen much of this side of Shego and she thought it was adorable. Even more revealing was the way she interacted with Rama. When Kim watched them, she could get a glimpse of what Shego must have been like as a kid and how that had shaped her into the adult that Kim now knew. An adult, Kim freely admitted to herself, she was falling for more and more.

Shego laughed as Kim went clambering up a tree in pursuit of a wayward Anna. She was having a really good time, she admitted readily. She realized she had been nervous for most of the day because she wasn't sure how Kim would react to this place. And this place was such a significant part of her life that it would really suck if Kim didn't like it. But since Kimmie was busy jumping out of a tree with a big grin while she was cuddling a clouded leopard cub, well, Shego figured Kim liked it pretty well. And she found herself drifting that much closer to actually admitting she was in love.

After the climbing incident, they figured they had better put Anna back into her enclosure. Luckily for them, they had almost completed the circuit and thus had only a couple more animals to look at. They stopped and looked briefly, but still kept up a good pace so that they rounded the corner leading up to the clouded leopard habitat within a few minutes. They put the cats back and shut the door only to be glared and pouted at.

"Don't look at me that way, Rama," Shego grumbled. "I know I am back in Middleton now, but you can't come live with me." Rama glared at her even more. "Okay fine. We'll start with weekly visits and if after a few months busting you out of this place makes sense, you can come back to the Mansion with me," Shego acquiesced. Rama's ears came up and he nodded. He came to the fence and nuzzled her before turning around and heading towards his sleeping quarters.

Kim knelt down to Anna's level and smiled. If Anna had been a human kid, that lower lip would have been out about four feet. "I'll come back when she does, Anna, I promise," Kim told her. "And we can play as much as you like." Anna pouted some more, but then sighed, squeaked a farewell to Kim and headed off after her great-grandfather.

"She likes you," Shego commented with a smirk.

"Well, the feeling is mutual," Kim cheerfully admitted. "She is adorable."

Shego chuckled. "So are you," she teased.

Kim blushed. "Well, you are no slacker in that department either," she countered, trying to make her blush calm down.

Shego thought about protesting, because, after all, "adorable" didn't fit the image. But, hey, if it was Kimmie who thought she was adorable, that she could live with. "Thanks, Princess," she said sardonically. She stretched and looked at her wrist, only to find she had forgotten her watch. "Not that I want to, but is it time to take you home?" she asked.

Kim checked her watch, which told her it was 11:30PM. "Yeah, you probably should," she said reluctantly.

"I just got on their good side, Pumpkin; I don't want to piss them off this quickly," Shego said and Kim had to agree. They walked from the Refuge to the Possible house and slowly as they could without looking stupid, but even this pace was fairly quick and they soon arrived on Kim's front porch. They both became suddenly shy and neither one wanted to start anything, even though neither had shown any hesitancy to start something in the three days previous. Finally it was Shego who couldn't take anymore. She put her arms around Kim's waist and drew her close, kissing her gently on the lips as she did so. Kim responded in kind and put her arms around Shego's waist, bringing their bodies even closer than Shego had. The kiss deepened and they both forgot where they were.

That was until the porch light suddenly came on. They were too involved with one another to act immediately, but they did separate slightly, succeeding only in making themselves look like they were trying not to get caught rather than preventing themselves from getting caught. "Evening, ladies," Mr. Dr. Possible intoned, looking at Shego warily now that he knew what her true intentions towards Kim were.

"Hi, Dad," Kim replied cheerfully, trying to completely ignore the fact that she was standing on the front porch with her arms around another woman.

"Um, hey, Mr. Dr. P," Shego coughed.

"So this was a date date then?" he clarified.

"Uh, yeah," Kim admitted.

"Then you are past your curfew," he admonished her. He turned to Shego with an eyebrow raised. "If you are dating Kimmie, I have no problem with that; in fact, I prefer it because you are not a boy. But, if you hurt her, I am going to forget the fact that you are a girl and I will have the rocket warmed up," he warned her.

"Duly noted, sir," Shego said respectfully, her face serious. She wanted to smile; Mr. Dr. P liking her dating Kimmie because she was a girl was a really amusing take on things. But she knew he was serious, and she respected the gravity of his words, so her face remained carefully neutral.

Mr. Dr. Possible glanced at them both. "You have five minutes and then I expect you inside," he told Kim, not unkindly but with definite authority.

"Okay, Dad," Kim answered and he closed the front door.

"Well, I guess this is goodnight, Princess," Shego decided.

"I guess it is," Kim acknowledged and they leaned in for one last goodnight kiss.

"I knew it!" Bonnie crowed. "I knew you were going to dump Stoppable for that green-glowing freak!"

Kim buried her head in Shego's chest and could not find the strength to lift it up. "Please tell me that is not Bonnie," she pleaded.

"Uh, well, how about if I kill her, it will no longer be Bonnie," Shego offered hopefully.

"Don't," Kim forestalled her. "We just got you pardoned." She raised her head and turned to Bonnie. "Bonnie, why in the world are you prowling my street at midnight?"

"I was studying at a friend's," Bonnie replied, fairly jumping up and down because she was so stoked by what she had seen.

"None of your friends live on this street," Kim retorted.

"None that you know about," Bonnie shot back. "Well, tootles, girls; I have some phone calls to make," she concluded with a smirk and proceeded to flounce her way towards her car.

"She is going to broadcast this all over school," Kim said resignedly. "I just wanted a week before I had to come out of the closet. Even a second date would've been nice."

"The offer of murder still stands, Pumpkin," Shego reminded her and she was not really joking about it.

"Thank you. It's tempting, but no," Kim refused politely. "It was going to happen sometime. I just wish we could have had a little more time together before we had to face the inevitable inquisition."

"I know, sweetie; I would have too," Shego said sympathetically. "But I am okay with everyone knowing. Are you?"

"Please don't be offensive on the first date, Shego," Kim scolded with a grin. "It is so not the way to get a second date. But to answer your question, of course I am okay with it."

Shego let out a breath of apprehension that she hadn't even been aware she was holding. "I am going to leave now before the press shows up," she joked. She made an exaggerated show of looking around before she kissed Kim once more. Kim kissed her back and it was only after several long moments that they reluctantly separated, their arms slowly coming to rest at their sides. "You're going to get in trouble, Pink," Shego said. "So I'll say goodnight."

Kim sighed. "You're right. Goodnight, Shego, " Kim pouted. She reached for the front door and opened it, giving Shego a small smile as she disappeared inside.

Shego watched Kim with a smile on her face until Kim was out of sight. When Shego was absolutely sure she was gone, she turned and walked back toward the Mansion, thinking all the while. Life was going to change now; it had to. But if having Kimmie in her life was one of those changes, she could live with changes. "Now, Miss Rockwaller, what kind of maniacal retribution can I dream up for you?" she wondered, chuckling evilly as she made her way home.

The End


End file.
